A Fon Master's Freedom
by GriffinHuntress
Summary: What if Luke became the new Fon Master, not Ion? As the world around him changes, Luke and his friends must choose what and who to believe about his past... and the future.
1. ND 2015 - Three Years Before

**-Author's Note: *SPOILERS for TotA, obviously* I read something on a fanfiction (I don't remember which, unfortunately) where the author commented on the fact that the Order of Lorelei didn't use Luke as the new Fon Master after Original Ion died, despite the fact he would have been an incredibly powerful Seventh Fonist. For some reason, that idea stuck with me.**

For the curious, the translated version of the timeline I used is at Tales of Translations. I'll probably be following the anime a bit more than the game, since the game is so long, and I don't remember the whole thing.

*Tales of the Abyss belongs to respective owners, etc. Please rate and review!*

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**ND 2015 - Three Years Before**

Luke was trying incredibly hard not to scratch his head. The crescent-moon headdress that sat on his head was heavier than it looked, and the tassels itched like crazy. He reached up to scratch his ear, but one glance from Grand Maestro Mohs made him put his hand back down quietly. The man was scary, and Luke had no desire to get a talking to again.

"Fon Master...?" Maestro Mohs asked irritatedly, and Luke realized he had let his attention wander.

"Huh?"

Maestro Tritheim shook his head. "Let the poor boy have some peace. It's only been a few weeks since he was brought to Daath."

Mohs frowned. "I still believe that to be a regrettable lapse in judgement... In any case, he needs to deal with what previous Fon Master Ion left behind after his sudden death."

"It wasn't sudden. You knew he was dying-" Arietta, one of the two Fon Master Guardians standing behind Luke, spoke up accusatorially, but Tritheim shushed her.

"Hush, child. And you, Mohs. You know better than to speak ill of the dead."

Suddenly, Luke felt stabbing agony behind his eyes, and he uttered an inarticulate cry of pain, falling to the floor. Through his darkening sight, he saw Tritheim stand and rush to kneel next to him. Mohs didn't move from his seat.

"Fon Master! What's wrong?"

"My- my head-" Luke gasped, grasping his head with his hands. "I- I can't-"

_"Other half of my soul... Heed my voice."_

Luke lost consciousness.

* * *

When Luke awoke, he stared at the white ceiling, trying to remember where he was. Then he remembered. He was in the cathedral at Daath, and this was his room now.

He stood and walked to the window overlooking the city. When he tried to open it, he realized it was painted shut- no, it was _nailed _shut, sealed with a fonic arte, then painted over. The paint wasn't new either, so it wasn't because of him.

He wondered why the previous Fon Master would have wanted his window kept shut in such a way. Was it to keep others out, or to keep him in?

Luke turned away from the window and caught sight of himself in the mirror. His long red hair was a mess, tangled in a rats nest around the headdress, and the tassels were in little better shape. His muted crimson formal robes were wrinkled as well, so he must have been thrashing around in his sleep. Clearly, no one had bothered or dared to even remove the Fon Master's headdress though.

Rather than the Master of a great Order, he just looked like the lost fourteen-year old he was.

Luke shook his head, and tried to clear the last of the fog from his mind. The sun didn't look like the weak early morning sun he had seen every morning since he came here, awakened as he was by Mohs, so why was he back in his room? Then Luke remembered: he had been at the Maestro Council when he had suddenly collapsed.

Crossing back to the window, he realized he could also see one of the twin monuments that pilgrims came to see. Standing by the monument, he could see someone who looked like General Van Grants, the Commandant of the Oracle Knights, with another person in the shadow of the monument where Luke couldn't get a good look at them. A tall blond man came up next to the two, and Van took the man's hand in his, greeting him like an old friend. The blond man nodded to the person in the shadows, but otherwise ignored them.

Luke wasn't quite sure how the whole Oracle Knights worked yet- so far he had been able to learn that the Commandant's six subordinates were quite powerful and were held in awe by ordinary people, but he had been unable to find their names. Mohs had carefully changed the subject any time anything other than Luke's most basic duties had come up.

Luke guessed he could understand that. Mohs probably didn't want him to be overwhelmed.

The door opened. "How are you feeling, Fon Master?"

Luke turned. There was Mohs, and with him was Arietta and a plain woman in a simple dress with a head cloth over her head. It was the woman who had spoken, and Luke immediately felt better at the sound of her voice.

"Mother!" Luke ran forward to embrace her, but Maestro Mohs stepped between the two.

"Pamela is no longer your mother, Fon Master. Remember that. She is merely here to serve."

Luke felt like he had been slapped.

Pamela Tatlin looked sad, but she nodded in agreement with Mohs. She walked around Mohs and began gently untangling Luke's hair from the headdress. Mohs turned and, gesturing for Arietta to follow, left the room.

Pamela spoke softly. "We're so proud of you, dear. Who would have thought our son would be Fon Master? Anise sends her love, too. She's been so busy now she's been promoted."

"It was the least I could do, mother."


	2. ND 2016 - Two Years Before

**AN: Nothing really to add. Tales of the Abyss doesn't belong to me, etc! Please rate and review!**

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**ND 2016 - Two Years Before**

Luke strained, but the glow in his hands didn't increase. He tried to draw on more of the Seventh Fonon, but a wave of nausea washed over him instead and he fell to his knees.

"I can't do it!"

Mohs stood over him, disapproving. "You _must, _Luke! It's been a year now! What will people think of a Fon Master who cannot read the Score? How will you know the path the world must follow if you cannot read it? We cannot cover for your incompetence forever."

Luke wanted to curl up and hide. He buried his face in his arms. "I don't know... I don't know, okay?"

A large hand softly came down on his shoulder. "Fon Master, get up."

Luke looked up, sniffing back the tears that were threatening to leak from his eyes.

Van Grants was looking down at him. "Come on Fon Master, there's someone I'd like you to meet. Go out to the courtyard. I'll meet you there."

Luke nodded and left.

Van turned to Mohs. "You can't treat him like that. He'll break."

Mohs clenched his teeth. "He's useless, tiresome, and childish. He can't use half the fonic artes he needs, and he can't even read the Score. He'll never be a good Fon Master."

"He's still young. Give him time." Van paused. "Look, I know someone who can teach him. Let me deal with him."

"Like you dealt with Ion?... Fine. Do as you wish."

Van's eyes didn't betray any of his thoughts; neither did his steady voice. "Ion was a... mistake. It won't happen again."

"Commandant Grants?" Luke asked, sticking his head back in. "Are you coming?"

"Yes, Fon Master," Van called back. "I'll be right there."

* * *

"So, who are we meeting?" Luke asked as he bounced in place, previous depression forgotten.

Van took him by his shoulder and led him around to a door Luke hadn't really paid much attention to. "You'll see. First though, you need to get changed into something a little less... conspicuous."

"Whoa!" Luke's eyes got big as Van led him out into the middle of a great underground hall, surrounded on all sides by levels of pathways. People, some in Oracle Knight's uniform, some in Order adept's clothing, bustled back and forth on the different levels and a troop of Oracle Knights practiced in formation in the middle of the hall.

Van carefully steered the gawking Luke to a door on the far side.

The Order adept manning the storeroom openly stared. "Commandant Grants! Fon Master!" Remembering his manners, the adept bowed deeply. "What may your humble servant do for you?"

Van looked around. "I need a staff, about so long," he spread his hands, "and a adept's uniform for a boy about his size," he gestured to Luke, who was also staring.

Van leaned down and whispered in Luke's ear. "You should stop staring. You look like you've never seen Oracle Knight Headquarters before."

Luke looked up at him. "But I haven't. I've spent my time upstairs."

"Not even the Tatlins let you down here?" When Luke shook his head, Van's eyebrows came together, but he didn't say anything.

The adept came back with a folded pile of clothing and a staff and bowed again. "Will that be all, sirs?"

"Yes, thank you." Van turned to leave, but had to stop to remind Luke, "Come along, Fon Master."

Luke hurried to catch up.

* * *

Van's quarters were spartan to say the least. There was a cot, a trunk at the end of the cot, a small book shelf, and an old map on the wall. Everything was clean and military straight.

Van put the clothing on the cot and closed one of two doors leading to adjoining rooms. Luke could just see another trunk and a cot with a large stuffed rappig on it before the door closed all the way. The other room looked to be a small kitchen and washroom.

Van went to the door and turned. "You can dress yourself, I assume?" When Luke nodded, Van continued. "Good. When you're done, come join me in the practice room at the end of the hall."

He left and Luke was alone. Luke carefully removed his headdress and the attached tassels and set it on the cot next to the stack of clothing, then removed his outer tabard. Something caught his eye and he stopped.

He stepped closer to the map and bookshelf. On the bookshelf was a collection of weighty books with titles like _'A History of Auldrant_' and _'The Score and The Order of Lorelei',_ and a large lump of fused fon stone, rock, and dirt. There was even some grass and leaves trapped inside the glass-like fon stone that surrounded the rock and dirt. Two books without titles caught Luke's eye. He opened the smaller and more worn of the two.

_40 Sylphday, _(an inkblot covered the month)_, ND 2002_

_Today, clouds covered the sky and hid the sun. It feels like a warning. Father says that war is coming, but Mother hushes him. I think she's worried about what will happen to us, especially the baby, if war breaks out. With Father one of Lord (_here the name was scratched out and illegible) _knights, I don't know what will happen either._

_I just hope this time the baby will be all right. _(This time, a whole paragraph was scratched out.)

_Dr. Balfour came again today. He says that just in case, the military will be moving the _(the rest of the sentence was covered by a dark stain). _He also said I've been one of his best assistants yet._

_That man scares me. It's almost like he isn't human. You can never tell what he's thinking._

_41 Loreleiday-_

(the rest of the page was torn out)

(the next page was written in a shaky hand and covered in blotches where the paper had gotten wet)

_I've lost track of the date... but what would be the point anyway?_

_How could anyone let something like this happen? There's nothing left!_

Luke closed the journal hastily and picked up the other title-less book. The inside page read 'The Theory of Fomicry' but the rest of the pages were too technical to make any sense to Luke. He put the books back and stood to look at the map.

It was clearly old, and there was something odd about it. It took Luke a minute to realize the map had another continent marked on it, where on modern maps there was only ocean. He squinted to read the mapmaker's spidery script.

"Brother, I'm back-" Luke turned, feeling like he had been caught red handed, to see a girl about his height and age in the door, holding a basket of ingredients.

The girl turned beet red at the sight of him. "F-Fon Master-! I'll just leave this here..." She put the basket on the floor just inside the door and fled.

Luke stared at the closed door in perplexity, then went back to the cot to figure out how he was supposed to wear the adept's uniform. It didn't look too different from his Fon Master's robes, so it couldn't be too hard, right?

* * *

Van bowed to his sparring partner and slid his sword back into its sheath. A small hand tapped his shoulder, and he turned to see a girl with her ash blond hair tied up in a bun and dressed in an Oracle Knight trainee uniform.

"Mystearica!" Van smiled. "Good, I'm glad you're here already. I-"

Tear did not look so happy as she grabbed his arm and pulled him off to the side.

"Ow ow ow, Mystearica, show more respect for your elders," Van grumbled, rubbing his arm.

"Vandesdelca, why is the Fon Master in our quarters?" she demanded.

"Ah... I hope you didn't walk in on him-"

Tear smacked him. "Brother!"

Van rubbed his arm again. "...I was going to say talk to Legretta. It seems I need to ask her to work on your temper as well."

"Stop ducking the question. What is he doing there?"

Van sighed. "I was hoping to avoid you knowing who he was, but as it is, I need you to work with him. Teach him how to use the Seventh Fonon. He was in our rooms because it can't get out that he's having trouble. I thought we could pretend he was a new trainee."

"I _suppose_ that explains that..." Tear was interrupted as a small redheaded adept entered the room, looking lost.

Van waved. "Over here."

Luke came over and Van sighed. Luke's outer tabard was on backward and his hat was crooked. "Hold still."

Luke did, and Van turned the tabard around.

Van looked at him critically. "Your hair's too distinctive." He quickly braided Luke's long hair and tucked it under his hat. "There. Now you look like all the other adepts."

Van's sparring partner came over from the other side of the room. "Commandant, is this the new adept?" She was a willowy woman, with shoulder-length blond hair tied back in a ponytail.

"Yes. Tear and I will be working with him, Legretta."

The woman turned to Luke. "What's your name?"

"Luke," Luke answered hesitantly.

The woman smiled pleasantly. "Luke? 'Light of the Sacred Flame' in Ancient Ispanian, and the name of our Fon Master. A good name, Adept Luke." She turned to Van. "I have things to attend to now, Commandant. I shall see you tomorrow."

"Tomorrow, then."


	3. ND2018 - RemDecan 15 - Seven Days Before

**AN: The chapters should get a bit longer after this point. Tales of the Abyss isn't mine, etc. Please rate and review!**

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**ND 2018 - Rem-Decan 15 - Seven Days Before**

Luke stared out the window. A year later, he now knew how to break the fonic seal on it, but he was still afraid to do so, especially since to get the window open he would also need to remove the nails and paint; not even Maestro Trithiem could possibly fail to see that.

"Fon Master?"

Luke turned at the sound of his Guardian's voice. "I know. I'm coming."

The Fon Master Guardians were supposed to protect him, Luke knew, but somehow, being followed by Commandant Grant's sister felt more like he was being smothered than protected. Honestly, he thought she might think something along the same lines, but she was always very professional and seemed to prefer to not talk much.

Tear Grants bowed. "I'm sorry, Fon Master, but that isn't why I came to see you."

"Okay, so...?"

Tear looked around. "I'd rather not speak here."

"All right. Meet me outside the cathedral by the monuments." Tear nodded, and, after one last glance out the window, Luke picked up his staff and followed her.

* * *

As they walked through the garden surrounding the monument, Luke turned to Tear. "All right. Why didn't you want to speak to me inside?"

Tear twisted her spear shaft in her hands, a sure sign she was worried. "Would... would it be all right if I took a short break from being your Guardian? I... have some... personal-"

"I don't mind," Luke interrupted. "I don't mind, but Mohs and your brother assigned you to me. Have you cleared this with either of them? They might mind."

"I..." Tear swallowed. "No. My brother's in Baticul right now. I... I don't think that either of them would grant my request in any case. However, I still want to be excused."

"Is it that important?" When Tear nodded, Luke sighed. "But you won't tell me what, huh?"

"I don't want you to get any more involved in this than you have to, Fon Master. I'm sorry."

Luke shook his head. "Don't be. If it's a problem, I'll tell them that you're doing something for me, all right?"

Tear bowed deeply. "Thank you, Fon Master." She turned and walked away, to pack no doubt, and left Luke by himself.

Lost in his thoughts, Luke nearly fell over as a boy who was working in one of the flower beds bumped into him.

Sniffing, the boy got down on his hands and knees and bowed, his forehead pressed into the dirt. He was so small and thin he looked to only be about twelve, with hair so dirty that it was impossible to say what color it was, except it was dark and ill-cut. "I'm so sorry, Fon Master. I beg you, please forgive me. It won't happen again, I promise-"

Uncomfortable, Luke reached down and touched the boy's arm to help him up. "Hey, you don't have to do that. How old are you, anyway?" The boy looked up, and Luke realized why he had run into him. The boy's nose was red and runny, and his eyes were so blood-shot and puffy, it was a wonder he could see anything at all.

The boy sniffed again. "Fourteen, Fon Master."

Luke frowned, and fishing about in his pockets, pulled out a handkerchief and wiped the boy's nose, removing a layer of dirt and grime, then handed it to the boy. "You aren't allergic to those flowers you're planting, are you?"

"It's my job. My-" The boy sneezed hard, the sneeze triggering a fit of coughing that overtook him and left him struggling for breath. Luke was horrified to see blood appear in the handkerchief, and he grabbed the boy's shoulder.

"As Fon Master I order you to stop. Can you hear me? It's okay to stop. You can have some other work- later!"

The boy shook his head slowly. "It's all right. It's my... duty to serve...the Order..." He collapsed into Luke's arms, and Luke looked around in a panic, but there was no one he could ask for help nearby.

* * *

"Mother?" Luke called, pushing open the door that led to the Tatlin's rooms.

Pamela Tatlin, her hands and skirt covered in flour, came out of the adjoining kitchen, wiping her hands on her skirt. "Fon Master? What are-" Her eyes fell on the boy Luke was holding. "Luke! What happened?"

Putting the boy on the bed, Luke explained about running into the boy in the gardens, and Pamela immediately ran into the kitchen and returned with a pot of steaming water and a white towel.

"Oliver will have to do with raw carrots," she said practically, and proceeded to wipe the boy's face off. Soon the towel had turned a dark brown and his face was a pale white again. She looked at him critically, then pulled his boots off, revealing a dirty pair of mismatched socks.

"Luke?" Pamela asked. "We need to get him out of these. Could you get some of your old clothes? They're in the trunk next to Tokunaga in Anise's room."

Luke nodded, and pushed open the door to the other room. At one point, it had been his room, but Anise had taken it over since he had left two years ago. A large stuffed doll- Tokunaga- sat in the corner next to a chest.

Luke opened it. He had never seen these clothes before.. they looked almost new- he realized that Pamela must have had them made just before he left. He had never even had a chance to wear them.

He had been better fed then than this poor boy, so Luke dug around for some older clothes at the bottom.

When he reentered the other room, a whole new set of clothes in his arms, Pamela had the boy down to his undertunic and leggings, and was filling a large tub with hot water.

Slowly sitting up, the boy blinked at Luke and Pamela blearily. " 'ha..."

Pamela knelt next to the bed. "Don't talk. If you start coughing again, I have no way of helping you before you pass out or worse. I'm not a healer."

She turned to Luke. "Where's Tear? She'd be better than me if something were to happen."

"I gave her permission to leave just this morning. She had some personal matters to deal with."

Pamela looked worried, but she turned to the boy. "Your tunic seems to be stuck to you. I'm just going to put you in with it on, okay?" Without waiting for an answer, she picked the boy up and put him in the tub full of hot water, undertunic and all.

He stared up at her, and for the first time, Luke noticed the boy's eyes were a startling emerald green. "Why?" he whispered, his voice hoarse.

Pamela stopped rubbing soap into his hair. "Hm?"

"Why are you doing this to me?" he whispered again. With the dirt gone, Luke could see a fading green bruise on the boy's cheekbone, and, as the boy folded his arms across his body, he could see a scar that ran up the boy's forearm and disappeared into his sleeve. "I'm no one you should notice."

Pamela picked up a cup. "Close your eyes and hold your breath, dear." The boy did, and she poured water over his head, rinsing out the soap. When his hair remained dark and dirty, Pamela frowned and got more soap. "I'm helping you because you're in trouble. That's what we're supposed to do as followers of Lorelei, are we not?"

"You're supposed to follow the Score," the boy mumbled, but Pamela cut the rest of his reply off by dousing him with more water.

"There." She smiled, satisfied. "Now, your tunic should come off." She pointed to the kitchen/washroom. "Go in there and get changed into those clothes Luke's holding."

"But-" the boy protested, but Pamela waved her hand.

"No 'buts'. If you keep those clothes on, you're going to have another attack. They're covered in pollen. There's a towel on the sideboard; use it to dry yourself off."

Luke put the clothes on the kitchen counter, and left the boy to change by himself.

Pamela sighed, looking at the black water in the tub. "My goodness. He was dirty! How could they let him get so bad? And how could they give him work like that if he was so allergic?"

Luke sat down on the other bed. "I don't know. Maybe they just didn't know."

"He should have said something, the poor dear."

"Mmm." Luke tilted his head back, thinking. "I'm definitely going to have him moved. But where to?"

"Um..." Pamela and Luke turned to see the boy standing there, looking unsure. Pamela took the towel and dirty clothes from him and put them into a basket.

Even the clothes Luke had found at the bottom of the trunk were too long for him, the sleeves covering his hands and the tunic hem falling far past his knees. Stripped of his coating of dirt, he looked uncomfortable and wary, and both his eyes and his hair were revealed to be a vibrant shade of forest green.

He tried to step forward, but he swayed and almost fell. Pamela caught him at the last moment and led him over to the bed where he sat down, exhausted.

Luke watched him curiously. "I never got a chance to ask: What's your name?"

"Ion," the boy said quietly, squeezing the water out of his hair.

"Ion, huh..." Luke looked up, trying to remember where he had heard the name before, but Pamela knew before he did.

"Ion like the previous Fon Master?"

The boy nodded. "I was named for him."

"But then-" Pamela saw the look on the boy's face and stopped.

"I don't really want to talk about it," Ion said, pulling his feet up and wrapping his arms around his knees.

Luke snapped his fingers. "I know! Ion, how would you like to be my assistant?"

Ion tilted his head. "Your assistant?"

Luke nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah! You can help me get papers and books and stuff. You can have your own room near my study. (I'm sure Mohs won't mind giving up some office space.)" Luke paused. "Um, if that's all right with you."

Ion looked desperately happy, like he was afraid Luke wasn't serious. "Really?"

"Yeah, you can have new clothes and everything. Anything you want for your new room. Within reason, I mean, I think the Maestro Council might get mad if we went overboard..."

"My own room... You'd really do that for me?"

Luke rubbed the back of his head. "Why not? You seem like a nice kid."

Ion smiled, but suddenly his breath caught and he began to cough violently again, the hacking coughs shaking his small body.

Pamela rushed to his side. "Take a deep breath. It's alright, you're going to be alright."

Slowly the coughing subsided, and Ion uncurled onto the bed.

Pamela stroked his hair softly. "Poor dear. Does this happen often?"

Ion sat up shakily. "It... no. I've always been... weak... but it's not usually so bad unless I..." He trailed off again.

Luke sighed and shook his head. "Let me guess, you don't want to talk about it. I amend what I said. You're an odd kid too."

...

**SKIT:** **Fon Master's Assistant**

**Luke: Mohs, can I have your study?**

**Mohs: ...! Why?!**

**Luke: I need a room for my assistant. Come over here, Ion.**

**Mohs: ...! Your... assistant?... Surely not- **

**Can't you pick someone else?**

**Ion: *bows* I'm sorry...**

**Mohs: ...anyone else?**

**Luke: Um, no. And about your study...**

**Mohs: *sighs* Yes, Fon Master... I'll prepare to move down to the library.**

**Luke: Good! Now that that's settled...**

***Luke and Ion leave***

**Mohs: Grrr...**


	4. ND 2018 - Rem-Decan 23

***Tales of the Abyss doesn't belong to me, etc.***

* * *

**ND 2018 - Rem-Decan 23**

"Luke, where are you, honey?" The red-headed woman peered up at the tree, then, apparently not seeing anything, moved on.

Guy Cecil swore. Why was Suzanne out here? And looking for _Luke, _of all people.

He jumped down out of the tree, landing softly, and walked up behind his mistress.

"M'lady, you really shouldn't be out here," he said as she turned around. "You should be resting."

Duchess Suzanne fon Fabre looked up at him. "Oh, there you are! I can't find Luke anywhere. I'm so worried for him when he disappears like this. And he hasn't come to see me in so long..."

"I'm sure Luke wouldn't want you out here looking for him, m'lady. Why don't you go back inside, and I'll look for him for you?"

Suzanne smiled. "Would you do that for me? You're so kind, Jozette."

Guy sighed, not having the heart to tell her that he was not, in fact, General Jozette Cecille. "Of course, m'lady."

Suzanne headed back inside the manor and Guy shook his head sadly.

"Man, she is _annoying,_" echoed from the tree next to him, and Guy barely avoided the apple core that flew past his head almost like it had been meant to hit him.

He looked up. "I _knew_ you were up there. You're lucky I didn't tell the Duchess where you were, you know. And you should show more respect for her. She's still your mother."

There was more munching, and Guy sighed again. "Get out of that tree. The Duke will have my head if you eat all his apples, you know."

Another core hit Guy's forehead. "Ow! Seriously, get down before you fall."

"I'm not going to fall," was declared. "And anyway, I like it better up here. I can see outside."

Guy rubbed his chin, thinking for a moment, then shook his head. "Well, then you'll miss your visitor..."

"Is it Natalia?" was asked hopefully, and Guy shook his head.

"Nooope. Guess again."

"Master Van?" The tree branches rustled excitedly as Guy nodded. "Master Van's here?! Really?! You're not pulling- WHOA!"

The rustling turned to cracking as the speaker tumbled backward out of the tree and plummeted, hitting the ground with an startled 'oof!'.

Guy rushed over to the red-headed form struggling to breathe after getting its wind knocked out of it. "Are you all right?!"

The redhead blinked up at him and waved fuzzily. "Hey, Guy, there's two of you. Two Guys. Haha."

Guy sighed. "Honestly, what am I supposed to do with you? You don't listen, you climb trees, you're constantly running around and you never wear the proper clothes."

"What's wrong with my clothes? _I _like them... Ooh. Pretty clouds."

Guy shook his head. "_I_ think _you _have a concussion, which is not surprising given how far you just fell. Let's get you inside. Can you walk?"

"Don't wanna," the redhead complained faintly. "Wanna... see... Master Van..."

The green eyes closed, and Guy sighed again. Why were all Fabres so stubborn? They just never gave up. He stood, looking for Pere or Ramdas to help him, but neither the gardener or head steward were anywhere to be seen. Well, Ramdas was a long shot anyway. Guy got the feeling the steward didn't really approve of him.

"Guy? What are you doing out here?"

Guy turned to see a blond girl walking towards him. "Princess Natalia!" He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Ahahah... Do you think you could help me out?"

"Oh my. What happened?" Natalia asked, kneeling.

"Fell out of the tree..." the redhead muttered. "...Master Van..."

Guy laughed sheepishly again. "That's pretty much it. And I got hit in the head with an apple core for my suggestion to get out of the tree before something like this happened."

Natalia sighed, draping the redhead's arm over her shoulders, half-supporting half-carrying the redhead. "Come on, let's go back inside."

...

Luke was absently swirling his finger in the inkwell, wondering when Ion would get back with the papers he needed to sign, when the boy in question came running in and tripped over the threshold, sending the papers he was carrying flying.

Luke stood. "Ion! What's wrong?"

Ion stood, dusting his new tunic off and began to gather the papers that were everywhere now. "Fon Master, someone's here to see you. He's-"

A tall man with dark blond hair and a blue military uniform appeared behind Ion.

"Hello. Is this a bad time?" he asked, and Luke realized the man's eyes were an unsettling shade of red behind his glasses.

Luke stood, and hurriedly wiped his fingers on his desk, then on his robes. "No, please, come in." Luke moved some papers, inadvertently causing a shower of paper to fall on Ion, who sighed and started to clean them up as well.

"Oops. Sorry, Ion." Luke turned to the man. "Sorry, I don't have anywhere for you to sit. I wasn't expecting anyone today."

The man waved his hand. "I'm fine. I understand this is a bit out of the blue, but it's rather urgent. I have two letters from His Majesty, Peony the Ninth, of Malkuth, one addressed to you, the Fon Master, and the other to King Ingobert." He handed one to Luke, who carefully unsealed it, and briefly scanned the contents.

Luke looked up. "Are things really that bad...?" He paused, not knowing his guest's name.

"I apologize." The man bowed ever so slightly. "Colonel Jade Curtiss of the Malkuth Imperial Forces, Third Division."

"Are things really that bad, Colonel Curtiss?" Luke said again.

"I'm afraid so. You see-" Jade's brow furrowed, and he stopped speaking. A few seconds later, the sound of running footsteps could be heard in the hall, and then in the doorway appeared a small girl with black curly pigtails and a large stuffed animal hanging off her back. Still panting from the run, she saluted Luke.

"Ionian Sergeant Anise Tatlin Oracle Knights Fon Master Guardian reporting for duty!" she announced breathlessly, then sagged against the door. "That's a mouthful, right there..."

"Anise!" Luke grinned happily, then tilted his head, confused. "But what are you doing here? I would have thought you'd be out with the other Oracle Knight fonists."

"Didn'ya hear? I've been promoted!" Anise hopped up and down. "I'm a Fon Master Guardian now! I-"

Ion stuck his head up from behind the desk. "Fon Master, I'm done." As soon as his eyes made contact with Anise's he shrunk back down again. "I'll be back here if you need me," came out muffled by the desk.

While Luke leaned over his desk to see what the problem was, Anise sidled up to Jade.

"Hi, I'm Anise Tatlin. Who are you?"

Jade pushed his glasses up on his nose. "Colonel Jade Curtiss of the Malkuth Imperial Forces."

Anise's eyes got big. "_The _Colonel Curtiss?!"

"Whatever stories you've heard, I assure you, they're only half true."

"Yeah, but which half?" Anise muttered, inching a little further away from him, then seemingly thinking better of it, scooted back. "Wait... Is the Curtiss family rich?"

Jade turned to Luke, ignoring Anise, who was getting more clingy by the moment.

"You see, I tried to get an audience with you, but Maestro Mohs insisted you were ill. It was only by chance," here Jade gestured to the desk, presumably meaning Ion who was still behind it, "It was only by chance I met this young man here who led me to your study. I came to deliver the letter and ask if you would assist us."

"Mohs..." Luke frowned. "What could he be thinking...?"

"Maybe you shouldn't go..." Anise spoke up slowly, the words her first serious contribution to the conversation. "Mohs must have his reasons. Like maybe it's in the Score. You could read it, you know, then maybe we'd know it too."

Luke flinched. The Score and the Seventh Fon Stone were a sore spot for him. "No, Anise, I don't think that would be a good idea... not a good idea at all."

Jade looked at Luke slowly, but didn't say anything.

Luke turned to Jade. "Give me a little time to think, and I'll meet you at the monuments outside of the cathedral in twenty minutes. While Anise is right and Mohs must have his reasons, at the same time I can't just sit idly by and watch."

"I'm coming too," came from behind the desk, and Ion's face reappeared.

As Luke and his two companions walked down to the warp glyph, he suddenly saw Mohs materializing in the center of the glyph.

Luke stepped forward. "Mohs-"

Mohs frowned at him, not stepping off the glyph. "Where are you going, Fon Master?"

Luke held his staff tightly and stepped onto the glyph as well. "I'm going to assist the Malkuth Colonel."

"If I may have a word on the way, Fon Master."

"Go ahead," Luke said as the group dematerialized and rematerialized on the lower level.

Mohs turned to Anise. "Anise, if you don't mind, I seem to have forgotten a book on my desk in the library. Could you fetch it for me?"

Anise glanced at Luke and Ion, then nodded and ran off.

Mohs turned to Luke. "Do you know why we follow the Score? It is to ensure the future prosperity of the world. We are the guardians of the people's future. If there is any chance of deviation, we must stop it. You were chosen to be Fon Master, but do you know why?"

Luke shook his head. "I don't think I was ever told."

"You were are chosen by the Score. It was predicted that a child with red hair, named for the Sacred Flame, would be born in Kimlasca. They would lead the world to unprecedented heights of prosperity."

"Kimlasca?" Luke stopped in front of the doors. "But my family's here, in Daath. The Tatlins are my parents. Anise is my _sister._"

Mohs stopped as well. "Luke, I am only telling you this because you need to understand the importance of your actions. Do you remember what happened seven years ago?"

Luke frowned. "No..."

"You appeared on the cathedral steps, lost, scared, and with no memory of anything before then except a name: Luke. The Tatlins took you and raised you like their own son. But it was only because I asked them to. To fulfill the Score."

"What? That's not true!" Luke clenched his fist. "So what if I was adopted? I refuse to believe they did it only because you told them to!"

"It wasn't for me. It was for the Score."

Angry, Luke pushed open the door, only to see a platoon of Oracle Knights waiting outside. He spun around. "What is this, Mohs?"

Mohs folded his hands inside his sleeves. "You cannot leave, Fon Master. To do so would invite disaster. I tried to warn you. You most of all cannot deviate from the Score set down by Yulia."

Luke eyed the rows of Oracle Knights, but realized there was no way he could get through all of them with only his staff and the few fonic artes he had mastered. In any case, he had no wish to kill the Knights.

Seething inwardly, he turned back to Mohs and coldly nodded. "I'll be in my room, then."

Anise ran up, but Luke walked by her. "Come on, Anise. We're not going anywhere."

Had Pamela and Oliver really only taken care of him because they thought it was their duty? Luke's forehead hit his desk in despair. He had never noticed or thought much about the time before seven years ago, probably since the Tatlins hadn't seemed to care, but now it bothered him. What had happened to him before to make him lose his memory?

He sighed. That was then, this was now. It was time to focus on evading Mohs.

Luke stared at the window he had looked out so many times. His hands shook as he raised them and the unlocking glyph appeared. He closed his eyes and, suddenly, he knew the seal was broken. His knees felt weak and Luke nearly fell.

He grabbed onto the sill for support. Was this supposed to happen? He so rarely used Daathic fonic artes it was hard to tell.

"Are you alright?" Ion asked, getting up from where he had been sitting.

"Y-yeah. I'll be fine in a moment." Luke stood as Anise trotted into the room, carrying a tray with a tea set on it.

"Luke! What are you doing?" she exclaimed, putting the tray on Luke's bed.

"Something I should have done a long time ago." Luke drew back his hand to smash the glass, but Anise stepped in front of him.

"Don't do that! You'll hurt yourself." She drew her own rod and deftly pried the nails out. Using a butter knife from the tray, she broke the paint and opened the window.

She turned to Luke. "Are you really sure you want to do this?"

Luke nodded. "Now, go see if you can find some rope."

...

Van looked down at the small redheaded body and shook his head. Why did things like this always seem to happen when he visited the fon Fabre estate? Well, he supposed it could be worse: he could have _not _been visiting when it happened.

Guy and Natalia stood on the other side of the bed, Guy as far from Natalia as he could.

Van put one hand on the redhead's forehead and raised the other hand. _"Heal."_ Both hands glowed green for a second and then the redhead's green eyes flickered open.

"Master Van!" The redhead sat up and, still blinking, hugged Guy tightly. Guy let out a panicked squeak and fell over.

The redhead blinked again. "Ohmygosh, Guy!"

Scooching farther away, Guy gasped, "I-it's okay."

Suzanne bustled in and tightly embraced the redhead. "Oh, Luke! I'm so glad you're safe! Jozette said she would look for you, but she never came back!"

"Jozette?" Natalia mouthed to Guy, and he shrugged.

"Mother!" The redhead pushed Suzanne away, and guessing the outburst that was sure to follow, Natalia and Guy hurriedly signaled the redhead to stop, but they were ignored.

"I'm not _Luke! _Why can't you understand that?!"

_"Aeden,"_ Van said warningly, but the redhead ignored him too.

"Luke's _dead, _Mother! He's been dead for seven years! Why- _why can't you understand that?!"_

Suzanne stared, then slowly sat down. "That's right... I'm sorry..."

"Aunt, I think it's time for you to go back to bed. You need some rest." Natalia took Suzanne by the shoulders and led her to the door, where a pair of very apologetic maids were standing outside.

Guy turned to the redhead. "That was cruel, Aeden. If it helps her to think you're Luke, then you should let her."

Aeden fell back on the bed, red hair flying. "But I don't _want_ to be Luke. I don't even look like him."

The other three stared. "Actually, you do."

"If you say so," Aeden muttered, rolling over.

Van stood. "I'll be in the courtyard."

As he left, Aeden rolled over again, looking at Guy curiously. "You know, she called you Jozette, Guy. I don't think that was the first time, either."

Guy shrugged. "I guess I look like General Cecille to her. They were friends, I think... And anyway, I don't think she'd let me spend time with you if she didn't think I was General Cecille."

"That's enough, Guy." Natalia put her hands on her hips. "It's time for you to leave- or do you need me to throw you out?"

"N-no, I'm fine." Guy backed out, then stuck his head back in from outside the door. "See you later, Aeden." Natalia glared at him, and Guy beat a hasty retreat.

Natalia huffed. "Honestly, _men." _She turned around to see Aeden completely under the covers, hiding, and groaned. "Aeden... Duke Fabre and General Grants are waiting for you. You have to be presentable."

"Don't wanna see Father..."

Natalia grabbed the foot that was sticking out from under the covers and _yanked. _

Aeden tumbled out of bed and onto the floor with a muffled complaint. "You're a mean big sister, Natalia!"

"Aw, you think of me as your big sister? That's so sweet." Natalia smiled, looking happy, then she brandished Aeden's hairbrush like a weapon, her eyes narrowing. "Now get over here, your hair's a mess!"

"Nooo! Save me! Natalia's gone crazy!"

* * *

There was no doubt about it: women _were_ scary. Especially noble women. Guy shook his head and turned back to the courtyard. Van was speaking with a harried looking Oracle Knight who was shrinking in his tunic a little more each second.

Both fell silent as Guy walked up. He spread his hands. "What, are we discussing Order secrets?"

Van turned to him. "I suppose I can tell you before I make my formal apologies, since you'll be the one looking after Aeden. I need to return to Daath. Some problems have arisen that require my attention."

Guy frowned. "Does it have anything to do with what we discussed?"

"In a way. I leave the rest to you."

* * *

Aeden, hair brushed and clothes tidy, pushed open the door. "I'm here, Father."

Duke Crimson fon Fabre looked up from his seat at the table. "Ah, Aeden. Please sit."

Aeden sat down at the table next to Van, who was resting his chin on his hands, eyes focused on something in the pattern on the table. Duchess Suzanne sat on the other side of the table, looking more aware she had than earlier in the day. Aeden squirmed, feeling vaguely guilty, then pushed the feeling away.

The Duke laced his fingers together. "Originally, Aeden, I was going to speak to you about your behavior, not least of all your disappearance this morning, but your mother asked me to reconsider." He glanced at Suzanne, who folded her hands on the table.

"I know it's been hard on you these past seven years, Aeden," she said softly. "The kidnapping and the loss of your memory... your brother's death. I know you want to go outside the estate-"

"I don't want to be trapped here forever, Mother!" Aeden exclaimed. "Natalia gets to go wherever she wants! Why won't Uncle let me do that too?"

The Duke frowned. "The Princess does _not_ go wherever she wants, Aeden, and you know that. King Ingobert only wishes to keep his daughter and her surviving cousin safe. It's for your own good."

Aeden quietly groaned. Could this day get any worse? Oh, wait! There was one thing that could make this day better.

"Can I go and do sword practice with Master Van now?"

Van straightened and looked at Aeden apologetically. "Aeden, I am sorry, but it appears a matter has come up in Daath that needs my attention. I am afraid that I will have to return."

"What? Master Van! What's more important than teaching me?"

Van sighed. "It seems that the Fon Master has been kidnapped."

Duke and Duchess fon Fabre looked worried, but Aeden's expression didn't change.

"What's a Fon Master?"

"_The_ Fon Master," the Duke corrected. "The Fon Master is the head of the Order of Lorelei. The current one was only chosen two years ago after the previous Fon Master, Ion, died while reading the Score. I remember there being a great deal of chaos in the Order over who the next Fon Master should be before the current one was chosen."

"In any case," Van said, turning back to Aeden. "I will train with you as long as you like today before I leave to make up for it."

Aeden jumped up. "Really? I'll go get my sword!"

...

Tear steeled herself and strode up to the gate.

A knight in white armor stepped forward to challenge her, but Tear began to sing. The haunting melody echoed through the manor, and guards and servants alike began to fall under its spell.

This wouldn't be so hard after all. His overconfidence would be his downfall.

...

Guy staggered. "Wh-what? I-I can't keep my eyes open..."

Pere looked up from his work as his legs began to buckle. "A fonic hymn?"

Van and Aeden fell to their knees.

Van grit his teeth, struggling to look up. "A fonic hymn... But only..."

"You traitor! Prepare to die, Vandesdelca!" a voice shouted from above.

Van tried to raise his sword hand, but he knew there was no way he could protect himself like this. The strength in a hymn depended on the singer's resolve- and this singer was very resolved.

...

Tear leapt, bringing her spear down. Could she do this? She had to-

"You can't hurt Master Van!" a voice shouted, and suddenly the Fon Master was standing front of her, sword braced against her spear! No, wait. There was something different about this person's features, something softer and more delicate than the Fon Master.

But there was no more time to think about it, because between their trapped weapons, a glowing ball of energy was taking shape. Tear tried to break away, but it was too late!

Everything went white.

...

Van looked up into the sky where his attacker and student had vanished.

Guy stood, suddenly freed from the effects of the hymn. A sinking feeling began to form in his stomach.

Was it starting? Was this the beginning?

...

"Ugh..." Tear groaned, slowly sitting up. Having your fonons and atoms ripped apart then reconstructed was not a pleasant feeling.

Tear stood, using her spear to help her, then walked to the edge of the cliff. The sea wind blowing through her hair made her feel a bit better and she turned her thoughts to the issue of the cause of the hyperresonance. She turned around.

The person who looked like the Fon Master was lying, still unconscious, among the selenia flowers. Tear knelt, pulling the red hair back to reveal the sleeping face of a girl about her age and height. Not the Fon Master then.

Tear was surprised by the disappointment that welled up inside her. Why would she want to be stuck out here with him? Luke wasn't even a good Fon Master. He was blind to what was going on around him and his fonic artes were horrible and he didn't know _anything,_ and, and, and... he was endearingly kind-hearted and trusting...

Tear's embarrassingly unprofessional train of thought was interrupted by a groan from the girl.

"What happened?" Aeden sat up, then regretted it as her head pounded. "Oh man... I think I'm going to be sick..."

Tear backed up a step, just in case this strange girl _was _sick, and surveyed their surroundings. They were standing in a small valley, where selenia flowers grew under the moonlight by a cliff that overlooked the sea.

Tear had not the slightest idea where she was.

Aeden climbed to her feet, dusting off her trousers and jacket. "Aw, I just had these washed last week."

Tear was slightly appalled, but she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she opened her eyes, the girl was teetering on the edge of the cliff, peering out at the sea.

"Is that the ocean?" the girl asked unconcernedly.

"Ah! Get away from there!" Tear dragged her away from the edge. Did this girl have no fear?

Aeden squirmed. "Let go of me, you peasant!"

"You're not making a very good first impression, you know," Tear grunted. She dropped the girl on the ground, far away from the edge. She sighed. "Now, what's your name?"

"Aeden fon Fabre." The girl looked at her like that should mean something to Tear.

It didn't, so Tear just held out her hand to help the girl up. "I'm sorry for dragging you into my problems."

Aeden ignored the hand, standing by herself. "You should be."

Tear sighed again. "I really am sorry. I would have been more careful if I had known you were a Seventh Fonist."

"Seventh Fonist?" The girl cocked her head, and Tear's worry grew. If this Aeden was a latent Seventh Fonist of the level that the hyperresonance that had sent them here suggested, and she didn't know it, then she could be extremely dangerous in the wrong hands. All the more reason to get her back safe as quickly as possible.

"Yes, someone who can use the Seventh Fonon. Our Seventh Fonons reacted to create a hyperresonance that sent us here." Tear tried to explain, but the blank expression on the girl's face didn't change.

Aeden couldn't follow what what this strange woman was saying, so she responded in the way she always did when she didn't understand something: irritation.

"Well, where is here? And what's your name, anyway?" Aeden asked sullenly.

"My name is Tear. I don't know where we are, but we must be fairly far away from Baticul." She started walking, but Aeden remained where she was. Tear turned back. "Aren't you coming? I'll take you back."

"Why should I believe you?" Aeden demanded. "You tried to kill Master Van!"

"I feel responsible for what happened. You're just an innocent bystander who got caught up in my problems because I wasn't careful-" Tear spun, her spear at the ready. "Monsters!"

Aeden yelped at the sight of the wild boars, but Tear calmly sliced one in half, stunning the second with a fonic shield.

"Look out!" Tear exclaimed, and Aeden drew her sword just in time, lopping the head off the monster half by accident. Aeden's eyes widened as the monster's hot blood dripped on her and the monster's body fell to the ground, but she had no time to think about it as another one charged her and she sliced that one in half too.

Tear picked her way back over the monsters' carcasses. "That wasn't half bad. Who taught you the sword?"

"Master Van," Aeden said distractedly, nausea welling up inside her as she tried not to look at the monster blood staining her hands. She wiped her hands on the grass, trying not to think about it.

_Van taught her? The style __**is**_ _the same... _Tear bit her lip, but didn't say anything.

The pair made their way down the hill, Aeden complaining and tripping all the way down.

* * *

As Aeden stood after her latest fall nearly into the stream at the bottom of the hill, muttering under her breath about getting leaves in her hair, the bushes in front of them rustled. She fell silent.

Tear raised her spear. "Who's there?"

The bushes yelped and a terrified looking man carrying water buckets came out of the bushes, hands in the air. "Don't hurt me! I'm just an innocent coachman!"

Tear lowered her spear again. "We weren't going to hurt you. We're just lost travelers."

The man put his hands down slowly. "You're not with the Dark Wings?"

Tear and Aeden looked at each other, then Tear turned back to the man. "No. We were on the way to the capital, but I'm afraid we've become lost. Does your coach go to the capital?"

"Yes, but tickets to the capital are 10,000 Gald per person. So, 20,000."

Tear was shocked at the amount, but Aeden stepped forward. "Hey, that's not so much. My dad will pay you when we get there."

The coachman shook his head. "Sorry, payment before."

"Hey!" Aeden complained. "I'll have you know, I-"

Tear was torn. On one hand, she hated the idea of giving up something that was so special to her for this irritating girl, but on the other hand, even if she didn't have the girl with her, she could hardly _walk _back. Especially since she didn't know where she was.

Tear reached up behind her neck and unclasped the chain holding her mother's pendant. She held the jewel out to the man. "Will this be enough?"

The man nodded and took it.

Aeden threw her hands up as she walked past the man. "Yeah! No more walking! No more stupid leaves and bushes!"

Tear bit her lip and followed the other two to the road.

* * *

**AN: I'm putting the author's note down here so I won't be spoiling myself with: Aeden is mine! Sort of. Well, she's a girl version of Luke for reasons that I can't reveal or else I'll mess up the story. Story-wise, she's Luke fon Fabre's twin sister. Everyone thinks he's dead, but clearly, he's not, so... ^_^**


	5. Rappigs and Cheagles - Engave

**AN: It's at this point in the game when Luke stops keeping track of what day it is, so I don't really have any dates for this part, just locations.**

**Thanks for reviewing, everyone! Keep reading and reviewing! This is all I have currently written, so it may be a little while, but now that I know people are reading, I have MOTIVATION TO WRITE AND UPDATE! :) **

***Tales of the Abyss doesn't belong to me, nope. Etc.***

* * *

The next morning, Aeden was awoken from her sleep by a jolt that threw her onto one of her fellow passengers, who not unkindly sat her back up.

"... No, ma'am," Tear was saying to an older woman sitting across from her. "She's the daughter of a friend of mine."

Aeden rubbed her eyes and yawned. "Wazzat? Are we there yet?"

Tear turned to her. "Oh, you're awake. No, we're not-" Tear was interrupted by an explosion outside.

Aeden stuck her head outside to see another vehicle speed by. An immense landship towered above them, apparently chasing the other vehicle and closing fast.

_"Warning, civilian coach! You are in our line of fire!"_

Tear yanked Aeden back inside as the landship fired its fonic cannons and the coachman swerved off the road to keep from being hit.

As soon as they were clear, the passengers excitedly piled out to see what was going on.

The coachman shielded his eyes with his hand. "Looks like the army's chasing down some bandits- probably those Dark Wings I mistook you for."

"The army?" Tear asked. "But what would they- oh no..."

Aeden peered closer, trying to make out the crest on the landship. It wasn't the crest with the sword wreathed in flames and based on wings of the Royal Family of Kimlasca she had seen all her life. Instead, it was some sort of stylized musical instrument, like a harp maybe. Aeden didn't recognize it, but Tear apparently did.

Tear turned to the coachman. "That's not a Kimlasca landship, is it?"

He laughed. "No, of course not! That's the new land dreadnought Tartarus, pride of the Malkuth Imperial Forces."

"Hey, Tear..." Aeden said slowly. "If that's a Malkuth ship, what would it be doing in Kimlasca?"

Tear shook her head and turned back to the man. "Sir, where are we exactly?"

The coachman looked puzzled. "The Rugnica Plains, in the Malkuth Empire. We just crossed over Rotelro Bridge-"

As he was speaking, there was a dreadful explosion, and Aeden turned back to see the ship come to a stop, fonic shield up, as the bridge exploded behind the bandits.

Tear tried one last time. "Then the capital...?"

"Grand Chokmah," the man answered, still looking confused. "The center of the Malkuth Empire."

"I made a mistake..." Tear muttered. "That's the exact opposite of where we want to be."

Aeden blinked as that sunk in. "What?!"

...

"Whoa!" Luke struggled to remain standing as the Tartarus slid to a stop. As he regained his footing, Anise and Ion lost theirs, defeating Luke's attempts to remain standing and barely missing the console and soldier next to them as they took Luke down.

Colonel Curtiss looked down from his place at the helm. "I knew I would regret having children on the bridge."

Was he being serious? Or just being the Colonel? Luke would have laughed weakly in embarrassment and apologized either way, but for small people, Ion and Anise were _heavy. _He could barely breathe, much less speak.

Anise jumped off Luke, pulling Ion with her. "Luke! Are you okay?"

Ion squeaked and his arms flailed, but he couldn't break away from Anise's hold on the neck of his tunic.

Luke climbed back to his feet, dusting his robes off. "Yeah, I'm fine. You guys should sit somewhere, though." He gave Anise a look. "And you keep an eye on Ion."

"Boo," she complained, dropping the boy in question. "You're no fun."

...

Engeve was much too... farm-y for Aeden's liking. While she had to admit the rappigs _were _cute, they were also extremely dirty and by the time she dragged Tear away from the pen, Aeden's boots were just as absolutely filthy as the pen's occupants.

Aeden was still trying to scrape what she hoped was mud off her third favorite pair of boots when Tear pulled her aside to show her the map the coachman had given them before he dropped them off. Tear had made up some excuse about having business in the little hamlet- though Aeden hadn't the slightest idea what business _anyone _could have in such a small, dirty, place. When she expressed that thought aloud, Tear gave her a lecture on "produce" and "food traders" and "supply and demand" that Aeden promptly tuned out.

Ignoring her was turning out to be the best way to deal with her traveling companion. Aeden was irritated and a little perturbed by Tear's lectures. Aeden could rarely follow them, but she hated asking for Tear to start again, and so the two were co-existing in mutual ignorance: Tear unaware of Aeden's ignorance and Aeden purposefully avoiding listening to Tear.

Tear pointed to the map. "We're up here, in the Rugnica Plains. Unfortunately, those Dark Wings destroyed the bridge over to the Ispanian Peninsula and Chesedonia, so I'm not sure how we're going to get back... Maybe we can get across the border at Kaitzur... or maybe we'll just have to wait until the bridge is repaired." Tear folded up the map and tucked it in her collar under her hair. "In any case, let's go the market and get some supplies. I think I have enough Gald for that and rooms at the inn for tonight."

Aeden peered into one of the crates of apples, picking one out.

Tear saw it and smiled. "Engeve's known for their apples and other produce. You might have even had some at home." She turned back to another shop.

Aeden turned the apple, noticing the same harp mark on it. Huh. Was it the Malkuth Imperial crest? She took a bite out of the apple, stepping away.

The man at the stand frowned. "Hey, aren't you going to pay for that?"

Aeden looked back. "Pay?" She waved her hand. "The manor will sort it out."

"You can't just take an apple without paying!"

Tear looked up from buying rice and vegetables to see a group of angry villagers dragging Aeden away. Tear briefly considered _letting_ the villagers take the girl away, but then sighed and gave the seller Gald for the rice and vegetables and headed after them.

Why did this feel like it might become a reoccurring event?

...

Aeden dusted herself off in a huff, then heard a cough. She looked up and gulped. A plump woman stared down at her, then looked up at her captors.

"What are you doing here? I have some very important guests right now." The woman gave the villagers who had dragged Aeden off a look. Peering past the woman, Aeden could see a tall man in a blue military uniform speaking quietly with a shorter boy in a plain dark green tunic and brown tabard, not unlike Master Van's, but without the pattern.

"She stole an apple, Rose!" one of the men complained. "She must be with those Dark Wings!"

"Yeah!" another villager added. "I bet they're the ones who've been stealing food from us!"

"Excuse me, pardon me." Tear's head appeared as she pushed her way through the group of villagers.

The tall man looked up, then walked over to stand behind Rose. "Is there anything you have to say for yourself, young lady? Perhaps your name?"

Aeden stood, crossing her arms. "I'm Aeden. Aeden fo-mmpf!"

Her hand over Aeden's mouth, Tear whispered in the girl's ear. "Think before giving your name like that! We're in enemy territory now."

Aeden shot her an evil glare, but Tear ignored her and bowed to Rose. "She's in my care, and I sincerely apologize for her. I'll pay for the apple, and any other trouble she's caused."

One of the other villagers grumbled, "What about the Dark Wings? They could both be with those bandits."

"Dark Wings? Weren't those the bandits that the Malkuth dreadnought was chasing?" Aeden asked.

The man in the blue uniform pushed his glasses up with a finger. "Actually, that's true. You must have been on that coach."

Tear nodded. "Yes, sir." She bowed again. "I really do apologize."

Rose laughed. "It's all right. It's all been sorted out, no harm done." She turned to the crowd of villagers. "Now, apologize to these young ladies."

Sheepish villagers apologized, and Tear nudged Aeden. "You apologize too."

"Whaaaat? But I didn't do-"

"COLONEL!"

Everyone turned to see a shorter girl, perhaps thirteen, with curly black pigtails, come running up the path. She stopped, gasping for breath, in front of the crowd.

She looked up at the tall man, panting. "Fon Master... Ran off... Cheagle Woods." She swallowed and coughed. "Said something about cheagle fur in the storehouse. Turned my back and he was gone."

The Malkuth colonel frowned. "Are you sure, Anise?"

Anise bobbed her head. "Yes, now come on!"

"Ion, you stay here. I need someone to give this message to the commander of the Tartarus when they come back." Handing a note to the green-haired boy, the colonel nodded to Rose, then left with Anise.

Tear gave money to the apple seller, then pulled Aeden away before she could cause any more trouble.

...

Luke pushed his way through the bales of hay in the back of the storehouse, until he found a quiet spot in the back. He knew Anise would be worried for him, but he needed time to be by himself and to rest. He had told Anise about the cheagle fur so that she would think he had gone off to the Cheagle Woods— and he would go— but not right now. He would spend the night here, then set off in the morning. It would be safer then, in any case.

He settled back, the combined smell of hay and cheagle fur tickling his nose and making him sneeze.

He sat up. Cheagle fur? He looked down. Sure enough, there was one of the little creatures sneaking out through a gap in the boards. The little blue cheagle was trying to pull away an apple that was almost as big as itself.

Luke reached down and took the apple away from the creature. "Hey, it isn't nice to steal, you know."

"Mieu, mieu!" the blue cheagle cried, and fled.

Luke dropped the apple back into the sack and lay back in the hay. Hay poked him through his under tunic, and Luke knew he would probably regret this later, but his eyes drooped and his breathing slowed.

Luke was asleep before he had a chance to think about what had bothering him.

...

Tear was in the middle of braiding her long hair when a knock on her room's door interrupted her. "Come in," she called.

Aeden's vaguely sullen face appeared. "Umm. Do you happen to have pen and paper?" she asked quietly.

Tear rummaged around and found an old note book and a pencil she had tucked away with her map in case she had needed to write down anything for her report. She passed to Aeden. "What do you need them for?"

Aeden tilted her face forward, her red and yellow bangs hiding her eyes. "A diary," she mumbled.

Tear raised an eyebrow. "A diary? You don't seem-"

"I have to, okay? It's because of my memory loss. The doctor said to keep a diary just in case."

Tear suddenly realized she had misread the other girl's face- Aeden was embarassed, not angry. Tear wondered what else she had misunderstood. And what was this about memory loss?

"What do you mean?" she asked. "You have amnesia?"

Aeden looked away. "It happened seven years ago. My brother and I were kidnapped by Malkuth. The doctor thinks the shock caused my amnesia." Her abrupt answers said more than her words, telling Tear that she had better not ask more.

Tear held out the paper and Aeden accepted it without another word, then left.

Tear fell back on the bed, forgetting her hair. _Seven years ago... When the boy fated to be the next Fon Master appeared on the steps of the cathedral. The boy who looks just like this girl..._

_What's going on? Was this in the Score?_

Tear sat up, reaching up to hold her necklace- then she remembered it was gone.

_"I hate them."_

_Tear looked up, still holding onto her Mother's necklace, her small hand only barely big enough to wrap around it. "Brother..."_

_He spun back around, continuing to pace their small quarters. He shook his head, his long hair nearly brushing his shoulders. "I hate it." Stopping suddenly, he slammed his fist into the wall. "I hate this place!"_

_Little Tear whimpered. "I... don't understand... big brother?"_

_He turned back to her, but even though he was looking at her, his blue eyes remained far away. "You should be running around under the sun! Mother and Father should still be with us. Instead...!"_

Tear shook her head, clearing the memory from her thoughts. But another surfaced unbidden.

_She raised her hands and the fon stone responded, resonating with a soft green glow._

**"ND 2002. The inheritor of Lorelei's power, two children of royal blood with red hair, shall be born in Kimlasca. They shall be named "The Sacred Flame". One will lead the world to heights of new prosperity-"**

_The stone abruptly broke off and Tear moved on to the next fragment._

**"ND 2003. He Who Seeks Glory shall destroy his homeland. Its name will be Hod. War will then continue between Kimlasca and Malkuth for a full turning of the seasons.**

**"ND 2018. The scion of Lorelei's power shall travel to the miner's city with people in tow. There-"**

_Tear lowered her hands, breaking the trance. "Maestros, the stone is again broken after that point."_

_Mohs nodded. "That's fine, Tear." Behind him, her brother glowered in the shadows, while Luke stood dejectedly by his side._

Tear wondered why that particular memory of that particular reading of the Score had surfaced. She had on several occasions read the Score for Fon Master Luke.

She frowned. Could Aeden...?

Tear shook her head. No. She was reading too much into it.


	6. Fon Master and Breakfast - Cheagle Woods

**AN: I was originally going to cover the corresponding anime episode (from the Cheagle Woods to the Tartarus) but this seemed like a good point for a chapter break... It seems too short, but... *shrug***

** I think Aeden begins to show a personality of her own in this chapter. (I know most of you won't agree, but I actually was fine with Long-haired Luke up until Deo Pass.)**

***To clarify, this fic starts 2 years before the events in the game and time-skips forward to the events in the game over the course of the first three chapters, so their ages are the same as the game by chapter four.***

***Tales of the Abyss doesn't belong to me. Only Aeden does, I guess...* Please continue to read and review! ^_^**

* * *

Aeden headed back to her room, notebook and pencil in hand.

She was glad not to have to share a room with that other woman. Aeden had never spent so much consecutive time in the company of another female before.

Suzanne had never really showed any interest in her except as 'Luke' and even then the Duchess remained mostly in her quarters. While Natalia consequently mostly took care of Aeden's wants and needs, Natalia was still a princess with her own duties, and she was more like a slightly annoying older sister than a friend.

Guy was really her only friend, but he still refused to come closer than a meter or so or touch her, just like he did with all the other females at the manor.

_Guy..._ Aeden sat on the bed. What was he doing? Was he out looking for her?

Her hands tightened. The maids had better not be flirting with him again.

Why did every female seem to feel the need to cozy up to him? Aeden certainly didn't understand it; but then again, she had seen him covered in mud, the result of a practical joke backfiring, and with his hair a vibrant shade of purple after he had fallen into a laundry tub on washing day, and after hundreds of other little incidents that come from growing up together for seven years with nothing better to do.

Suddenly, she shivered and looked up. Was there a draft? The air brushed her face like someone had just walked by her, but there was no one else in the room.

Aeden mentally shrugged. It was probably just her imagination.

* * *

**SKIT: First Kiss**

**Aeden: Guy, have you ever kissed a girl?**

**Guy: *spits out his drink* W-where is this coming from?**

**Aeden: I was wondering what it was like. *turns red* Not kissing a girl. I mean kissing in general. **

**Guy: *starts choking* I-I-I'm afraid I can't help you there...**

**Aeden: You mean you've never kissed ANYBODY?**

**Guy: W-What? You need to stop reading all these stories! Of course I've kissed a girl!**

**Aeden: *pause* You really haven't kissed a girl, have you?**

***awkward silence***

**Guy: It would be hard. **

**Aeden: You haven't had a first kiss?**

**Guy: Not unless it was when I was young. **

***Aeden moves closer***

**Guy: What are you doing...?**

**Aeden: Helping you get over this. *moves even closer***

**Guy: Eep! *falls over* I'm sorry, mistress! *runs off***

**Aeden: *gloom***

* * *

The next morning, Tear was still lightly dozing, knowing better than to miss a chance to catch some sleep, when the door slammed open with a crash that threatened to cause the pictures to fall off the wall. Reacting on instinct, Tear had her knives drawn and aimed at the intruder's head before she was fully awake.

Tear blinked the sleep out of her eyes. "Aeden? What are you-"

Aeden grabbed Tear by the wrist. "No time. Come on, hurry it up."

Tear caught the blanket, wrapping it around herself, fully conscious of the fact she was still dressed for sleep in the frilly flannel nightgown she had borrowed from the innkeeper. Yet another reason why she needed to get back soon-Tear had no change of clothes and they were going to get quite disgusting, quite fast.

Using a self-defense move, Tear deftly removed her wrist from Aeden's grip. "Aeden, what in the world are you doing?"

Aeden shook her now-stinging hand. "Owww, Tear!"

Tear sighed and cast First Aid on Aeden's wrist. "There, happy now? Now, what are you doing in my room? You don't strike me as an early riser."

"Well, I couldn't sle-" Aeden glared. "Never mind that." She stuck her head back out into the hallway. "Hey, get in here!"

Tear rubbed her forehead. Oh, Yulia. The sun was only barely up and already she had to deal with this?

Aeden reached out into the hallway, dragging a boy with green hair and the distinctive tunic of an Order of Lorelei adept into the room. Aeden took him by his shoulders and turned him towards Tear.

"Tell her what you told me," Aeden ordered.

Ion bowed to Tear. "F-fon M-m-master Guardian, forgive me."

Aeden looked between the two of them. "Wait, you guys know each other?"

Tear shook her head, mystified. "I don't specifically remember him, but I don't know all of the members of the Order personally either."

"I'm sorry, we've never been introduced. I'm Ion. The Fon Master made me his assistant not too long ago." Ion looked up at Tear. "I used to work in the gardens at the cathedral in Daath and I've seen you and the Fon Master around. Everyone knows who you are."

Tear half-smiled, at the same time wondering if being that well known was really a good thing.

Aeden interrupted, having grown bored with the conversation. "Anyway, Ion said that the Fon Master's here, and he hasn't been kidnapped, but now he's missing."

"Kidnapped?" Tear asked. "What are you talking about? And now he's missing?"

Aeden shook her head. "That's not important. What's important is that we need to go track him down! If he returns to Daath, then everything will go back to normal. So hurry up and get dressed, Tear!"

Tear was tempted to bring up the fact that they were still in the middle of the Malkuth Empire, but didn't. She sighed. "Get out of the room and I'll join you outside in a minute."

Aeden left, dragging a resigned and unprotesting Ion with her.

...

Aeden leapt to her feet as Tear quietly shut the door to the Inn behind her. There was no need to wake anyone they didn't have to, though Tear had thanked the Innkeeper (who was already up, preparing breakfast) as she left.

Next to Aeden, Ion sneezed and got up from the grass, dusting his tunic off.

Tear folded her arms. "Alright, Aeden, Ion. Where are we off to?"

Ion pointed to the north. "Anise said the Fon Master headed off to the Cheagle Woods. Something about the sacred cheagles stealing food from this village."

...

Luke sneezed twice and looked up at the sky as he rubbed his nose. Pamela had always told him and Anise that sneezing without reason meant someone was talking about you- Luke didn't really believe that, but it wasn't beyond reason that someone was talking about him. Probably Anise or Mohs, looking for him.

His stomach rumbled and Luke sighed. He hadn't thought about bringing food and he certainly wasn't going to steal from the villagers, so Luke hadn't eaten since last afternoon.

He stood. Better get going. According to the map he had, uh, _borrowed_, from Anise, he was still a good distance from the cheagles' home in the middle of these woods.

...

Five minutes later, Luke tripped over a tree root and rolled to the center of the clearing. Wincing, he stood and looked up at the surrounding trees.

_Wait, isn't this where I just was? _

He looked back at the base of the tree he had tripped over and, sure enough, it was the same tree he had taken a break at.

Luke pulled out the map, but just as he opened it, a wolf monster leaped on him, knocking him to the ground. Its two snarling brethren leaped out of the surrounding trees and circled down to surround him.

His raised staff the only thing keeping the wolf from tearing him apart, Luke struggled to free himself, panic rising in his throat. He couldn't cast an arte if he couldn't move his arms for the glyph.

How he wished Tear or Anise were here!

...

Tear blasted the Axe Beak with Searing Sorrow and the bird-like monster fell over, smoking. Wiping a bit of sweat off her forehead, Tear turned back to Ion and Aeden. Having expressed a desire to avoid fighting, Ion was instead carrying a rucksack filled with apple and lemon gels Tear had bought the day before. Aeden had her eyes half-closed as she wiped her bloody sword on the grass.

Tear gestured. "Well? Come on."

Aeden glared at Tear, the fact that this had been entirely her idea conveniently forgotten, then her stomach gurgled and she knelt down to poke the Axe Beak with her sword. "Hey, do'ya think we could eat this? It kind of _smells_ like roast chicken. I wonder if it would taste like chicken..."

Tear shook her head. "Not unless you want to risk being sick for a week. Monster meat sometimes isn't good for humans. And remember, you were the one who insisted we leave before breakfast."

"Ugh..." Aeden moaned, then suddenly pointed her sword at Tear. "Well, I demand we stop and eat now."

Tear ignored her and kept walking, her head turning to scan the trees for monsters.

Aeden stamped her foot. "Don't you hear me?! You brought food, didn't you?"

Ion opened his mouth to say something, but Tear suddenly stopped in front of a tree that had fallen across the path and raised her hand. _Quiet_.

Curious, Aeden came up behind Tear. "What is it?" she whispered.

Tear leapt over the tree into the clearing below them, turning back to look up at Aeden. "Hurry! Someone's in trouble nearby."

Aeden jumped down too, just to show she could, and nearly twisted her ankle as she landed. Muttering a very unladylike expletive she had picked up from Guy and the White Knights, Aeden followed Tear around the tree as Ion scrambled after them.

As the group rounded the tree, they saw a trio of wolves attacking a lone traveler in a brown cloak that hid his clothing. He struggled to free himself from under the wolf's weight with his staff, but he was clearly trapped.

**"Nocturnal Light!"** Tear cried, throwing her knives to just miss the wolf on top of the traveler.

Startled, the wolf turned its attention towards Tear and the man rolled to his knees, breathing heavily and leaning on his staff.

His hood had come off during the fight, revealing crimson hair that lightened to a golden yellow at the tips, dulled by dirt and leaves, and bright green eyes that shone in the darkness of the forest.

Aeden ran up to help Tear, but Tear slammed the wolf with Nocturnal Light again, this time catching it hard, and the wolf fell to the ground.

"Fon Master!" Tear ran towards the man kneeling on the ground and, as he looked up at Tear and smiled, Aeden realized he couldn't be much older than herself: seventeen or eighteen, maybe.

Panting from the run, Ion came up behind Aeden. "A-apple gel?" he gasped, offering one to Aeden, but she shook her head and ran forward, helping Tear by lopping the head off the second wolf.

The third wolf snarled, but Tear hit it with Banishing Sorrow and it yelped and fled.

Tear ran to the young man, kneeling next to him, but he waved her away, climbing to his feet shakily.

He looked them over. "Ion? Tear? What are... you doing here?" His eyes caught sight of Aeden and he frowned. "Who is..." He blinked, then his eyes closed and he collapsed in a heap.


	7. Ligers and Cheagles - Cheagle Woods

**AN: I meant to finish this over the past weekend but... It's good to have goals, right? XD Anyway, if you'd like to see Fon Master Luke or Aeden, head on over to my DA account! Same name. ^_^**

***TotA doesn't belong to me. Technically, I think only Aeden does. Please enjoy and review!***

* * *

The first thing Luke was aware of when he came back to consciousness was the smell of burning rice.

"Oh!" Tear dropped the salad she had been helping Ion put together and hastily took the pan with the rice in it away from Aeden before more fell into the small fire.

Aeden glared at her. "Hey, what are you doing?"

"What are _you _doing?" Tear dumped what was left of the rice into a small pot with some water and put a lid on it, placing it back by the fire. She turned back to Aeden. "You don't make rice balls that way. Who taught you to cook?"

"Guy did," Aeden said sullenly. "It was something to do. But he wasn't a very good teacher."

Tear sighed and rubbed her forehead with the heel of her hand. "I can tell. Can you handle cutting up some carrots if I give you a knife? On second thought, go wash that pan out in the stream. I don't want you near any knives at all. Ion, you go with her. If either of you get into trouble, yell and I'll come help."

"Yes, _Mom._" Aeden stalked away, Ion following close on her heels.

Tear turned back around to see Luke struggling to sit up. She caught his shoulder and helped him to sit against the base of the tree before she began scolding him as she went back to making rice balls.

"What did you think you were doing, all alone out here without a single Guardian? Do you know how worried I was when you collapsed?" Tear stopped suddenly, worry crossing her face as she looked back at him. "How are you feeling? You've been out an hour or so."

"Hungry," Luke groaned. "I haven't eaten anything since lunch onboard the Tartarus yesterday."

Tear nearly dropped the pot with the rice. "_Yesterday?_ No wonder you passed out! You need to take better care of yourself. As the Fon Master you can't afford to become ill. Everyone's counting on you."

Luke's face fell at her words and, silently, he took a carrot from the abandoned salad and began munching on it.

Tear looked up from what she was doing. "Fon Master? Are you sure you're-"

"Tear," Luke interrupted, and Tear stopped at the tone of his voice.

"Yes, Fon Master?"

"Did... Did you know?" He looked at her, his green eyes dark. "Did everyone know that I don't have a real family? Is that what it really says in the Score? Did my family know they were going to lose me before they died?"

"Master Luke..." Tear said slowly, choosing her words carefully. "I never spent much time at HQ before I became your Guardian. I don't know anything about that."

"And there's another thing." Luke took another bite out of the carrot. "I never saw Arietta again after that day she questioned the Maestros. What happened to her?"

"I'm sorry, Fon Master. All I know is she was removed from the Fon Master Guardian Corps."

What was left of the carrot broke in half with a snap. "_Removed?_ Why?"

"Again, I don't know. I'm sorry I can't help you."

Luke sighed, looking up towards the tree canopy that blocked most of the sky. "It's alright, Tear. It's not your fault. Of course you wouldn't know; you don't have a reason to."

Tear hesitated, then said, "My brother might be able to tell you about Arietta, if nothing else. You could ask him when we return to Daath. He'll probably be back by then."

Luke's face darkened again and he turned back to look at her. "Tear, I-" Whatever he was about to say was cut off by a shout from the direction Aeden and Ion had disappeared in.

Tear leapt to her feet, grabbing her spear from where it lay. "Stay behind me, Fon Master!"

"GET BACK HEEEERE!" Aeden ran into sight, soaking wet, brandishing the pan over her head as she chased down a small blue cheagle.

"Miiiiieu!" it wailed piteously and jumped onto Luke's head, who yelped and instinctively pulled away from it, causing it to fall. "Mieu!" it cried again and ran to hide behind Tear.

Tear deftly removed the pan from Aeden's hands. "What are you doing?"

As Ion ran up behind her, starting to look tired from all the running, Aeden angrily pointed at the cheagle. "That- that- that stupid ANIMAL knocked me into the water! I could have drowned! And now I'm soaking wet!"

Tear sighed. "Aeden, the water barely even comes past your knees. I doubt you would have drowned."

"Whatever, I'm still wet. Now hand over that thing so I can strangle it!"

Straightening, Ion looked at her. Quietly, he admonished, "Cheagles are sacred to the Order of Lorelei. They're not just any animals."

"_Monsters_ then," Aeden fumed.

Luke petted the cheagle's head. "Hey, you were the one I saw stealing from the storehouse, weren't you? I remember you."

The cheagle looked up at him, then chirped and fled, running off into the woods.

"That must be the way to their home." Luke stood, bracing himself against the tree. "Something's going on here. Come on, Tear."

Tear put her hand on his shoulder. "Fon Master, sit down. I can heal your scrapes, but you need to eat. It's waited this long, whatever it is can wait a little longer."

Luke sighed. "Fine, mother."

...

"Who is that girl?" Luke asked Tear quietly as they made their way through the forest. The girl in question was forging her way ahead, muttering to herself as her waist-length crimson hair caught leaves and branches despite the thick hair tie just above her hair's yellow tipped ends that pulled it back into a loose ponytail.

Tear shook her head. "She says her name is Aeden fon Fabre. When I... was in Baticul, our Seventh Fonons reacted to create a hyperresonance that sent us out here."

Luke caught her arm. "Hey, hold up. You're usually more careful than that, Tear. Is something going on that I should know about?"

Tear removed his hand from her arm stiffly. "Please, Fon Master."

Luke pulled back. "I guess you have it under under control then. I just wish you'd talk to me."

...

Stubbing her toe on a tree root, Aeden tumbled forward and rolled down the incline with a shout.

Luke stuck his head into the opening of the tunnel. "Hey, you found the entrance!"

"You think?" Aeden groaned, standing. She looked around. She was in some sort of hollow in the base of the large tree in the center of the Cheagle Woods, but the sunlight coming from the entrance only illuminated the circle of the ground she was standing in.

Aeden rubbed her throbbing elbow. They had been walking in the direction the little cheagle had disappeared in, but strangely (or maybe not strangely) all the cheagles they had seen had fled almost immediately. That was when Luke had seen the tree and redirected the group towards it.

Suddenly, a set of glowing eyes appeared out of the darkness and Aeden gulped. "Uh, guys? There's something down here with me..."

Luke jumped down after her into the circle of ground illuminated by the sunlight, followed by Tear and Ion.

Luke looked around in interest. "I've never been _inside _a tree before."

Aeden pointed into the darkness. "I swear, there was something over there."

Tear put her hand on Luke's shoulder, subtly pushing him back to place her body between him and any threat. "Let me go first, Fon Master."

The glowing eyes blinked again and Tear raised her spear in a guard. Suddenly, a ring of glowing eyes popped up surrounding them.

"Mieuuuuuu!" echoed from all around and an elderly-looking purple cheagle carrying a large golden ring stepped into the circle of sunlight.

"Are you related to Yulia Jue?" the Cheagle Elder asked.

Tear relaxed, her eyes adjusting to the darkness inside the tree. "They're cheagles."

"Tear, move," Luke said softly, then he stepped forward and bowed his head to the Cheagle Elder. "I'm Fon Master Luke, head of the Order of Lorelei. Our founder, Yulia Jue, once made a pact with the cheagles-"

"Wait, so these things can talk now?" Aeden interrupted, and Tear shot her a look.

Luckily, the Cheagle Elder didn't seem insulted, and simply nodded towards the thick gold ring it held. "This Sorcerer's Ring allows me to talk to you, yes. It was part of the pact we made with Yulia."

Luke knelt to be closer to the cheagle. "I want to know why you've been stealing food from Engeve."

"We need it to give to the ligers." The Cheagle Elder gestured forward the little blue cheagle they had seen earlier, then turned back to Luke. "This little one accidentally started a forest fire, and it drove the ligers out of their home. If we don't give the ligers food, they'll eat us instead."

Luke frowned. "Really?" He stood. "I'll look into it, but maybe there's some way we can help. As a sacred animal of the Order, you shouldn't have to worry about being eaten by ligers."

The Cheagle Elder nodded. "Thank you, Fon Master." It gestured the little cheagle forward. "Please, take this little one with you. Perhaps he can be of some help." Passing the ring to the little cheagle, the Cheagle Elder stepped back.

"Mieu!" the little cheagle cried, hovering off the ground to circle their heads, only to stop in front of them and bow in mid-air. "I'm Mieu! Very pleased to meet you, mieu!"

Aeden's eye twitched. "Something about that voice..."

Luke held out his hands for the cheagle to land on. "Hey, Mieu. It's nice to finally learn your name. Now, I hope you won't be stealing any more apples."

Mieu's head drooped. "I'm sorry, mieuuuu..."

...

"I don't understand," Aeden complained as they walked through the woods. Luke was leading the party with enthusiasm, following Mieu closely, much to the consternation of Tear, who had been trying to keep the Fon Master behind her.

Tear only had time to spare Aeden a quick look as she leapt over a fallen tree that Luke had disappeared over, but Ion looked up at Aeden as she leapt up to the top of the log

"What don't you understand?" he asked, trying to find a hand hold on the mossy trunk.

Aeden gave him an irritated look, then grabbed his arms and pulled him over with a grunt. "You're awful light. There." She leapt down.

"I don't understand why we're helping these cheagles. Isn't it supposed to be, you know, survival of the fittest and all?"

Ion climbed down carefully, then looked at Aeden. She stared back at him for a second, the color of her green eyes identical to that of the Fon Master, then he blinked and she turned away.

Ion hurried to catch up with her. "Yes, but this isn't a normal situation. These ligers aren't supposed to be here."

Aeden waved her hand. "Let's just leave them and tell the villagers what they're up to. I mean, there's a lot of food to go around, right?"

"That's not how it'll work," Ion replied quietly. "Engeve is a large food supplier for the rest of Auldrant. Besides that, let's say the cheagles stop stealing food to appease the ligers. After the ligers eat the cheagles, they'll attack Engeve in search in food."

"Oh..." Aeden fell silent.

...

Luke slid down the shallow incline that was the entrance to the liger's hiding place, his sandals slipping on the mossy stones. He stood at the bottom of the incline, looking at his grass stained clothing, and wondered if the green stains were ever going to come out of his Fon Master robes.

"Fon Master!" he heard Tear hiss, then something slammed into him, knocking him sideways and off the narrow path, down onto the lower switchback.

He blinked at Tear. She was lying on top of him, having pushed him aside to avoid the grey wolf that had leapt out of the shadows. She winced as she raised herself up and stood.

"I'm... sorry, Fon Master. Please be more careful in future."

As she turned back to wave for Ion and Aeden to jump down in order to avoid the wolf, Luke saw a set of sluggishly bleeding slashes on Tear's back. He caught her arm.

"Tear, hold on. You're hurt." He rested his hand against her back and the green glyph for healing glowed a bit shakily under his palm.

She turned her head to look, wincing again as the movement pulled on her injury. "Fon Master, you don't need to-"

Luke ignored her, watching as the wounds closed over. When they were completely healed, he let the green glow flicker out.

He looked at her, his green eyes serious. "Tear, that wasn't necessary. You got hurt because of me. _You don't need to do that."_

Tear shook her head and pulled away, bowing. "It is my duty as a Fon Master Guardian, Fon Master. Please don't make this harder than it needs to be."

Luke opened his mouth to answer but suddenly a shooting pain stabbed through his head and he fell to his knees, gasping.

Tear quickly knelt next to him. "Fon Master! What's wrong?"

Luke shook his head, trying to get rid of the agony throbbing in time to his too-fast heartbeat so he could breathe again.

**_"Sci... of Lorel... Hear m..."_**

"I don't understand!" he gasped. "What-"

Tear raised her hand, preparing to use a healing arte on him, but as suddenly as it had begun, the yellow glow around him faded and Luke collapsed, trembling.

Ion and Aeden more carefully followed them down. Their eyes widened at the sight of Luke and Tear, though Aeden's expression was more confused than worried.

"Hey, are you okay? Did he hit his head when you guys fell?" she said softly, so as not to attract the attention of the monsters now that they were literally in the monster's den.

"I'm- I'm fine." Luke opened his eyes and looked up at them. "Don't worry about me." He climbed to his feet, leaning on his staff, and forced a smile. "Let's keep going."

He stumbled, and Tear caught him. "We can go back-"

Luke shook his head. "I said I'd do something. Saying you'll do something is the same as promising, and I'll never go back on a promise."

Tear sighed and put his arm over her shoulders. "At least let me help you."

...

As they stepped into the grassy circle that was the heart of the liger nest, Aeden's mouth fell open in astonishment. An enormous liger lay curled around a nest with a set of three similarly-sized eggs in it. The liger opened its eyes slowly, then, seeing them, it snarled and Mieu cried out and hid behind Tear and Luke's heads.

"That's the Liger Queen," Mieu explained fearfully. "She's angry that we came here. I think she knows about the fire too..."

The Liger Queen snarled again, and, shaking from fear, Mieu translated that as well. "She says that her eggs are about to hatch, and that we should leave."

Luke took a step forward, pulling away from Tear, and nearly fell, his knees still weak. He looked at Mieu, who had come forward a bit again. "Tell her I want to help. Tell her I want to help both the cheagles and the ligers. Can't we find some other way?"

Mieu repeated that, and the Liger Queen growled and climbed to her feet. Mieu turned back in a panic. "She says we'll make good snacks for her baby ligers! Miiiiiieu!"

The Liger Queen roared, making the very the trees shake, and, instinctively, Tear grabbed the closest person to her, Ion, and rolled away, missing the debris that rained from the tree tops.

"Look out!" Aeden cried as she pushed Luke and Mieu aside, slicing hard with her sword. She was just in time to catch a dead branch almost as big as Ion; it fell past her to land in pieces where the trio had been standing not a moment earlier.

Mieu hugged her leg. "You saved us, mieu!"

Turning away, Aeden's face grew red.

"I only meant to save the Fon Master," she muttered. "He's gotta make it back to Daath. That's all."

"Look out!" Tear shouted, throwing up a shield in front of the trio just in time to prevent the Liger Queen from tearing them apart.

Falling back, the Liger Queen seemed to have been only barely stunned by slamming into the shield. She snarled again and Tear pushed Ion backward, into the surrounding trees.

"Ion, stay back!" she ordered, and Ion nodded. Tear glanced over her shoulder over at Luke and Aeden. "You too, Fon Master! You're in no condition to fight."

Luke realized she was right. By staying on the battlefield, he would only make it more difficult for Tear to fight, since she would feel the need to protect him. He nodded, backing into the trees.

Aeden looked between the Liger Queen and her nest. "Tear, if we fight here, the eggs could get-" She was forced to jump away as a sweep of the Liger's tail threatened to knock her off her feet.

Tear began a haunting melody that Aeden recognized, and a purple glyph took shape underneath the Liger. "**Nightmare!**" Tear finished, and the glyph glowed darkly. The Liger shook her head, but otherwise seemed unaffected by Tear's Hymn, growling as she pounced at the other woman.

Tear backflipped out of the way, and Aeden looked over at her. A thin layer of sweat gleamed on the other woman's face and despite the determined look in her eyes, Tear's breathing had a hitch in it that suggested she was getting tired.

"Ion!" Aeden waved at Tear, hoping Ion understood what she wanted.

He looked confused for a moment, then he pulled out the bag he was still carrying and threw an Orange Gel to Aeden. Aeden barely caught it, then tossed it to Tear.

Tear looked at the gel a bit distastefully, but, ever the soldier, she bit into it without even water to wash it down.

While Tear recovered her strength, Aeden ran forward, her sword low.

_Please work, _she prayed, then, leaping, she brought the sword up in a tearing slice. "**Fang Blade!**"

The Liger Queen snarled and batted Aeden away with a huge paw, claws extended.

Aeden went flying with a cry and hit the ground, her limp body tumbling across the grass and dirt. She slowly sat up, holding back tears of pain from the stinging in her exposed shoulders.

She looked up at the Liger as she paced towards her, then Aeden glanced at the still-recovering Tear.

Aeden closed her eyes. Was this it?

"**_I, who stand in the full light of the heavens, command thee. Come forth, divine lightning. _****This ends now! INDIGNATION!"**

Aeden opened her eyes to see the Liger Queen completely engulfed in lightning. A massive glyph glowed underneath a tall man's feet, his hair flying about his face and his hand raised above his head as he called down the lightning upon the Liger.

The Liger collapsed and, as his corona of light faded and his hair fell neatly around his shoulders, the man's face and clothing became visible, revealing him to be the Malkuth colonel from Engeve. Behind him, a smaller girl with curly black pigtails bounced up and down in frustration.

Luke and Ion climbed out of the surrounding woods, joining Tear. As he joined her, Luke stumbled and Tear barely caught him, draping his arm over her shoulders.

"Colonel Curtiss," he said weakly. "You found me again."

Shaking his head, Jade Curtiss picked his way across the battlefield, avoiding the shards of egg shells and the Liger Queen's body, to stop in front of the group.

"Fon Master-" Jade started, but Luke's eyes flickered and his body went limp as he fell forward. Kneeling, Jade caught him before he fell to the ground.

Jade looked at Tear for an explanation, but she shook her head. _Not now._

"I expect one later,_" _he said aloud, confusing Aeden, then sighed and stood, holding Luke's limp body in both arms like he would a child's.

It was strange, he reflected, that bodies without life always seemed to be heavier than those with its mysterious power.

Aeden watched as the Malkuth colonel lifted the Fon Master's body with little effort, then someone timidly touched her arm. She looked back to see Ion, who was still holding the bag.

Ion looked a little scared, as if he half-expected to be hit for his impertinence, and he spoke quietly. "I don't think Tear'll be able to fix those shoulders of yours anytime soon. May I?"

He held up an Apple Gel, and Aeden nodded. "All right. I can't reach them anyway."

Ion carefully pressed the gel onto her shoulders and Aeden sighed as the sting disappeared.

Tear walked past them. "Hurry it up, you two. We need to catch up with the Colonel."

Aeden glared at her. "Hey, I gave you that Orange Gel."

Tear stopped, turning back. "Why _did_ you do that?" she asked slowly.

Aeden looked away and down at the ground, glaring at the grass. "I didn't want anyone getting hurt." Seeing something, she knelt, picking up a shard, then looked back up at Tear. "They got broke."

"What?" Tear asked, kneeling next to Aeden, then saw what the girl was holding. "I see... the liger eggs were broken while we were fighting."

Aeden sniffed and Tear looked at her. "Don't cry."

"I'm not crying! The stupid cheagle's making my nose run, that's all."

Tear took the piece out of Aeden's hand and stood, bringing the girl with her. "Aeden, it's better this way. Do you know what would have happened after they'd hatched?"

Aeden shook her head and Tear continued.

"Baby ligers need a lot of food. They would have attacked Engeve and killed the people there first, then even travelers in this area. Do you understand?"

Aeden turned away. "Yes. I don't have to like it though."

"No, I guess you don't."

...

Anise shot a look at Ion and he shrunk back, half-raising his arm to protect his face. She huffed in annoyance. "Come on, I'm not going to hit you."

Lowering his arm, Ion looked at her in confusion. "You aren't?"

"Well, for starters, I don't hit people who don't deserve to be hit. Secondly, you haven't done anything I can think of that would make me want to hit you. Have you?" Anise glared at him threateningly, and Ion flinched again.

Anise sighed. "I'm kidding! Man, you are seriously..." She shook her head. "I don't even know. But you're big brother Luke's friend, so he must see something worthwhile in you. And if big brother thinks you're someone worthwhile, then I have to at least try to get along with you."

"Anise." A hand came down on her shoulder, and Anise looked up into the red eyes of Colonel Jade Curtiss.

"Yessir?" she responded brightly. He leant down and spoke softly in her ear, and she nodded, then ran off, leaving Ion to walk with the colonel, who was still carrying Luke's unconscious body.

Ion kept his eyes on his feet, and was surprised when the colonel said his name quietly.

"Ion."

"Yes?"

Jade didn't look at the green haired boy as he spoke, but he knew that Ion was watching him carefully. "Ion, I won't ask any awkward questions if you don't want to answer."

He paused, but Ion didn't say anything, didn't take the chance Jade offered him.

"Anise!" Tear instead called from behind them. "Are we almost out of these woods?"

Jade turned back. "I sent Anise on ahead. Don't worry, we're almost there."

...

Aeden and Tear stepped out of the Cheagle Woods, their eyes dazzled by the bright sunlight. As Aeden blinked the sun out of her eyes, Tear froze.

"Aeden, don't move."

They were surrounded by a ring of Malkuth Imperial soldiers, all with weapons at the ready. On the far side of the ring, Colonel Curtiss had already passed Luke's body to Anise and a pair of soldiers waiting with a stretcher.

"I know you're a Fon Master Guardian and I am sorry to have to do this to you, Tear, but it's part of my duty."

He pushed up his glasses with one finger, the sunlight glinting off the lenses making his expression inscrutable.

"Tear and Aeden, you are under arrest for illegally crossing the Malkuth Empire's borders. You will surrender yourselves now and come aboard the Malkuth dreadnought _Tartarus_."

* * *

**AN: Yeah, me again. Many thoughts. :) Luke's first collapse is due to rather mundane reasons, but the second is much more serious. Sorry! I almost didn't make him do it, but...**

**I guess Apple Gels are like a medicine and Orange Gels have like... electrolytes? I don't know. In Tales of Graces, someone makes a comment that Apple Gels taste strange and in Tales of the Abyss, Mieu asks if love smells like Apple Gels. That's all I know. XD**

**I may, from this point on, use onii-san/-sama and onee-san/-sama/-chan instead of the English 'big brother/sister'. They have different connotations (at least to me) and the original Japanese makes more sense within the context of the characters' relationships. For instance, Anise's whole speech about Luke makes more sense with "nii-san" instead of "big brother". I'm curious, anyone have opinions on this?**

**Also, yes, Jade's incantation is abridged. It's really long and the English version makes him sound rather... evil. ^_^"**


	8. Knights and Seals - Tartarus

**AN: Well, this chapter is really long. Or is it just me? I had to go back and rewatch this part, and I tried to cover the corresponding anime episode... I don't think I'll do that again. -_- With the extra bits from the game, it gets really long. The "short" version of the anime cuts out some of Jade's best lines though!**

**And... Guess what, you can participate! I can't decide what Aeden's clothes should be. My personal styles don't "fit" the rest of the characters, so if anyone wants to suggest/draw, please add it in the comments! ^_^ **

***Tales of the Abyss belongs to its respective owners, not me! I suppose only Aeden does. :D Please comment!***

* * *

"Mmm..." Aeden scowled and pointedly rubbed her shackled wrists. Across the table, Jade Curtiss smiled back pleasantly. On him, the expression was extremely unsettling- a smile that didn't seem to reach his dark crimson eyes.

Jade folded his arms. "Now, that we know how you got here, how about we start with your names- your _real_ names, please." He looked at Tear. "I already know yours, Locrian Sergeant Tear Grants, Fon Master Guardian."

"How do you know I'm a Guardian?" Tear asked. "I'm not in uniform."

Jade just shook his head. "The Fon Master thinks highly of you. He was concerned." He looked at Aeden. "And you, young lady?"

"Aeden fon Fabre." She glared down her nose at Jade. "Which you should know, since it was you Malkuth people who tried to kidnap me and my brother seven years ago!"

"You're a Fabre?" Jade's eyebrows lowered a bit in faint concern. "But... I have no knowledge of any such attempts ever being made. Whoever it was, it was not the Malkuth forces who abducted you."

Aeden snorted. "Right. And it was an _attempted_-"

Tear interrupted before the conversation could take a turn that might end with her and Aeden being thrown in prison back in Grand Chokmah. She could probably claim some sort of diplomatic immunity, seeing that she was a Fon Master Guardian, but Aeden...

"What do you want from us?"

Jade turned back to Tear. "We need your help. Well, we need Lady Aeden's help."

"With what?" Aeden snapped. "Why would I wanna help you Malkuth war-mongering-"

"We're on a mission of peace, I assure you," Jade interrupted smoothly, "but I cannot give you the specifics until you agree to help us. It's a matter of the utmost importance, and top-secret. If you help us, however, I'll personally ensure you make your way home safely."

"What if I don't help you?" Aeden asked.

The smile stayed the same, but Jade's glasses glinted with an evil light. "Well, you _did _illegally cross the border, intentionally or not."

Getting this girl home, then being able to continue with her mission, or spending the next few months in a cell in Grand Chokmah? It was really a simple decision, Tear thought.

She kicked Aeden under the table. "We'll do it," Tear said, and Jade nodded.

"Hold on." Aeden folded her arms as best she could with the restraints, ignoring Tear's foot. "Don't people normally bow and scrape when asking for something like this?"

"Oh dear." Jade stood, then walked around the table. He knelt at Aeden's feet, his glasses gleaming. "Very well. Milady, would you kindly assist us?"

Aeden stared at him. Somehow, even on his knees, this man still seemed to be at ease and totally in control.

"Fine, just get up. And don't... call me that. It's creepy."

Jade smiled as he stood. "Of course, Milady."

He turned to one of the two guards. "Remove their restraints."

The soldier looked surprised. "Remove them, sir?"

Jade nodded. "Yes, then leave us."

"Sir!"

As soon as the guards were gone, Jade continued, the smile gone as well. "We've been entrusted with a letter from His Majesty Peony IX to give to King Ingobert, as well as one to also entreat the Order of Lorelei for assistance. However, when I attempted to gain an audience with the Fon Master, I was rejected. Only with young Ion here's help was I able to find the Fon Master."

"But if this message is for peace, wouldn't the Order want to help you?" Aeden asked.

"Grand Maestro Mohs doesn't want to." Ion's quiet voice came from his seat on the bunk across the room. Their heads turned to look at him, but he was looking at his feet. "And he speaks for the Order now."

Tear stood, her hands hitting the table. "No, he doesn't! The Fon Master is the head of the Order! Besides, I know both of them; neither of them would want a war! The Maestro Council would never-"

Ion looked up at her. "Are you on the Fon Master's side, or Maestro Mohs's?"

"They're the same side!" Tear protested, and lon looked down again, rubbing the scar on his arm.

Tear sat down slowly, realizing that the others were staring. "I'm sorry."

"Internal politics of the Order aside," Jade said, "the point is that we need this letter to reach King Ingobert. It's extremely important that it reach him quickly to prevent a war from breaking out. But for that very reason, we can't simply walk into Kimlasca-Landvaldear." He turned to Aeden. "That's where you come in."

"You want me to talk to my Uncle?" Aeden frowned. "I guess I could do that."

...

Tear sat by Luke's bunk, watching his chest rise and fall softly. He hadn't opened his eyes since he was brought onboard the _Tartarus._

She sighed. There really wasn't anything she could do at this point. With nothing physically wrong with him, her fonic artes wouldn't wake him- She had tried.

Tear stood and turned away, but something caught the edge of her skirt.

"...wait."

Tear turned back. Luke was staring up at her with his deep green eyes, his hand clutching Tear's hem desperately.

He released her skirt and sat up slowly, rubbing his head. "Tear. Ugh... How long was I out?"

Tear nodded her head respectfully, then sat down again, pulling the crate she had been using as a seat further away from the bunk. "About an hour, Fon Master."

Luke frowned at her formality. "Tear, come on. We've known each other for over two years now. You can call me by my name."

"I'm sorry, Fon Master, I can't do that."

"Tear..." Luke swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood slowly, resting his hand against the bunk.

_Boom! _The Tartarus shook with a massive explosion, and both Tear and Luke nearly fell to the floor.

Running footsteps sounded in the hall and the door flew open. Ion appeared in the door, green hair flying about his face and cheeks flushed from running. "Colonel Curtiss says to join him and the others on the bridge. They're on their way there now."

Luke grabbed the staff by his bunk. "Come on, Tear!"

Tear pushed him back, picking up her spear. "**_No, _**Fon Master. _I'll _go first. And _don't _use any artes."

Luke sighed as Tear stepped out into the hall. "Fine, Tear-"

A gasp interrupted him, and, coming to the door, Luke froze at the sight in the hall. A tall woman with blond hair in a ponytail was holding a gun to the side of Ion's head, its twin loosely hanging in her other hand. Tear lay to the side, blood leaking from a gash on her forehead, and a liger standing with its paw on her back. Next to the liger was a small girl about Anise's size, with pink hair and a stuffed doll clutched in her hands.

"I'm sorry," Ion whispered. "Major Legretta..."

"No, Ion-" Luke started, but Legretta pointed at him with the gun not held to Ion's head.

"Don't try anything or your little assistant gets a new scar," she ordered sharply. "Stand still."

"Major, what about the Guardian?" the girl said, and suddenly, Luke connected the little girl in black with a two year old memory.

"Arietta? What are you doing here?" he asked

Arietta glared at him. "Be quiet!" she snapped, the hard order at odds with her little voice.

Legretta looked down at Tear. "Leave her. Easier that way," she decided. "Now..."

She spun the gun she was holding to Ion's head and brought the butt down hard. He collapsed to the floor, struggling to remain conscious.

Legretta turned to Luke. "Blindfold, Arietta."

"Blindfold?" Luke stepped back. "What are you-"

"Be quiet, or we'll do this the hard way." Legretta tied the blindfold tight around Luke's head, sealing it with an arte for darkness. "Arietta, bring the boy. We'll need something to make sure the Fon Master... cooperates."

Luke felt himself being pushed forward, and he stumbled in the dark. "Is this really necessary?"

"You don't need your sight to open a Daathic seal," was Legretta's cold answer. "And just so you know, I'm carrying your little friend, so don't even think about trying something."

Luke wasn't quite sure what he would try, if he _had_ been thinking about trying 'something', but he dutifully stumbled down the Tartarus's corridors.

...

Aeden put a card on top of the growing stack. "Is that right? Did I win?"

Anise glared at her, then down at the card, and smiled gleefully. "Nope, I do!" She swept Aeden's two carrots and rice ball into her pile of foodstuffs.

Anise sighed. "It's not quite the same as playing with money- whoa!"

Both tumbled to the floor as an explosion rocked the landship and alarms began to wail.

Anise hurriedly stood and ran to the door. She stuck her head out into the corridor. "Ooo..." She bit her upper lip, vibrating with nervous energy. _Should I go check on Luke, or should I stay here like Colonel Curtiss said? Oh..._

Aeden came up behind her. "What's going on?"

Anise turned back, mind made up. "We're under attack. Come on!" Gesturing for Aeden to follow but not looking to see if she did, Anise ran down the corridor towards Luke's quarters.

...

Jade was heading down towards Engineering when the alarms started going off. He immediately went for the nearest intercom.

"Colonel Curtiss to the bridge. Please respond!"

There was nothing but static for a moment, then a soldier's voice came through. "Colonel, this is the bridge. We're under attack!"

Jade frowned. "By whom? Kimlasca?"

"We don't know- no, it's a group of griffins. Someone's riding them- it's Oracle Knights and ligers! A group of Oracle Knights are-urgh!" The soldier's voice cut off in a horrible gasp.

"Bridge, respond! Respond!" When no one responded, Jade threw down the speaker and began to run down the hall, heading back up to the living quarters. _Oracle Knights... What could they be after? The Fon Master?_

...

Anise swore under her breath as she knelt next to Tear to check her vitals. The other Guardian was lying on the floor, the dried blood on her face from an already scabbing cut above her eye.

Tear moaned and blinked. "A...Anise?"

"Where's Luke?" Anise demanded, and Tear winced.

"Oracle Knights... Took him and Ion. Headed that way." Sitting up, Tear pointed down the hall.

Anise climbed to her feet. "Stay here with Tear!"

"Hey, wait! You can't just-" Aeden began, but Anise was gone.

Tear held a glowing hand to her head. "I'm a terrible Guardian. If it wasn't for-"

"Tear, Aeden!" Jade ran up, looking concerned, but not particularly winded from running. "Where is the Fon Master?"

Tear stood. "Oracle Knights took him. Anise went after them."

"Then who has the letter?" Jade looked at Tear urgently, but she shook her head.

"I don't know."

Jade looked thoughtfully at the floor. "If Anise has it, then there's nothing to be worried about. If Luke or Ion have it... Well, hopefully Anise can catch up to them." He looked up.

"The bridge is unresponsive. We have to assume the crew has been killed. We need to regain control of the _Tartarus_ first; then we can worry about the Fon Master. They won't hurt him."

Tear nodded. "Which way?"

Aeden held up her hands. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold up. The **_entire _**crew's been... killed?"

"Yes," Jade agreed calmly. "We were attacked by a group of griffins carrying ligers and Oracle Knights. Most likely the bridge crew is dead- or otherwise incapacitated." _They wouldn't go down without a fight though. All hundred-forty of my men are probably dead..._

"And you want to go fight them? Ligers, like back in the Cheagle Woods?" Aeden shook her head, swallowing. "Nuh uh. No way. Go on ahead, I'll be in my quarters..." Her voice turned into a squeak as she backed away, then turned to hightail it back- only to run into a massive man in black and red, carrying an equally massive scythe and with thick black hair and beard.

He caught her wrist, and Aeden's eyes widened as his grip tightened, easily enough that she knew he could snap her like a twig.

"It's surprising to see you here," the man rumbled, "Jade Curtiss. Or should I say, Jade the Necromancer."

"Jade the _WHAT_?" Aeden squeaked, but Jade shot her a look that warned her to be quiet.

"I see my reputation precedes me once again," he commented calmly.

The man smiled. "It certainly does. Rumors abound about how you scour the battlefield after battles."

"Oh, but that's nothing compared to the rumors that surround you." Jade's eyes narrowed. "Largo the Black Lion, one of the six God-Generals of the Oracle Knights."

Jade threw his hands forward, and Largo spun his scythe to protect against the anticipated attack, which forced him to drop Aeden.

As soon as Aeden was out of the way, a glowing glyph appeared beneath Jade's feet. **"****_Oh darkened storm clouds, loose thy blade and run mine enemies through!_**** Thunder Blade!"**

Largo blocked easily and lunged at Jade and Tear, who leapt out of the way, Tear sideways and Jade backwards, forcing Largo to spin to keep the more dangerous of the two in his sight.

Largo withdrew a small box from within his robes. "After hearing how you escaped with the Fon Master, we decided it was time for a little... something to cut you down to size, Necromancer. It's just my luck I happen to have it with me."

Jade looked unsure for a half-second, the half-second Largo needed to activate and throw the object at Jade. It glowed, creating a glyph beneath his feet, then a glowing multi-colored cage around him, and Jade fell to his knees.

"That's a fon slot seal to seal your fonic artes. What do you think, Necromancer?"

"Not... that... impressive." Jade gritted his teeth and passed his hands over his arms, reclaiming his spear's fonons, and, as the glow faded, lunged at Largo with his newly reassembled spear.

Largo tried to move, but suddenly found he couldn't. Behind him, Tear sung softly, and Largo realized what had happened. "A fonic hymn..."

Aeden watched in horror as Jade's spear went straight through Largo's chest and Largo fell to the ground.

Jade disassembled his spear matter-of-factly. "Let's go. There will be more of them on their way here."

"Aeden? Aeden, come along." Tear took Aeden's wrist, tearing her away from the sight of the puddle of blood pooling under Largo's body.

...

Still blindfolded, Luke was completely surprised when what felt like a soft brick slammed into his head and knocked him sideways. He fell to the floor, head spinning.

"Yahh!" Anise yelled, Tokunaga knocking another Oracle Knight to the floor. She hadn't _meant_ to hit Luke, it was just that these hallways were so dang _small. _She was only barely avoiding hitting her _own_ head on the ceiling.

Major Legretta dropped Ion, who rolled out of the way to end up next to Luke, and shot at Anise's head. Luckily, Tokunaga was able to block the shots with its arm, protecting its rider as stuffing flew.

"Go! **Pow Hammer!**" Anise jumped off Tokunaga as the admittedly slightly ridiculous red hammer appeared above her enemies' heads, and knelt next to Luke and Ion.

"Come on!" She tried to untie Luke's blindfold, but he shook his head.

"Anise, you need to get the letter from Ion. Major Legretta has-"

Ion sat up, pulling the letter out. "No, I'm here. Anise-"

Anise's hand closed around the letter, but just as she did so, the liger knocked her sideways into the rapidly shrinking Tokunaga hard enough to send both flying through the porthole.

"How dare you attack me from behind?! I'll kill you all!"

As Anise's voice receded as she fell, Luke could hear her yelling some choice things at the attackers that made Ion's ears turn red, though Luke himself wasn't sure what most of the tirade even meant.

...

Jade looked out the hatch, then brought his head back in. "There's a group of griffins and ligers blocking the way to the bridge. We'll have to fight our way through them. Are you ready?"

Aeden tightened the strap on the bag she had ended up holding- it was half-full of apple and orange gels they had found on their way up. After seeing what had happened, her previous confidence and excitement was fading fast. "Come on, let's go already."

"Hold on." Tear turned back to Aeden and began braiding her hair, wrapping it with a strip of leather she had also found somewhere on the way up.

Aeden tried to pull away. "Hey, what do you think you're doing?" Tear kept a hold on her hair, so all Aeden ended up doing was yanking her own hair. "Ow! Seriously, quit it!"

"Shush. We don't need them to hear us," Jade reminded them as he took a last surreptitious look out the hatch.

Tear finished the braid, tying it off with the end of the leather strap. "Done. Let's go."

"Ow..." Aeden complained, trying to untie the knot. "Why did you do that?"

Tear knocked her hand away. "Leave it be. You look too much like the Fon Master. If anyone saw you, they might mistake you for him. Do you really want to be captured as well?"

Aeden frowned sullenly, but left her hair alone.

Tear moved up next to Jade and spoke softly. "Colonel, are you going to be all right with your artes sealed?"

"Don't worry, I'll be fine. My abilities were far above average to begin with, and I've already started to work on undoing the seal." Jade looked out onto the deck. "It will take some time, however, so I wouldn't be surprised if you've caught up to me by the time I've undone it."

Jade pushed open the hatch and the three stepped out onto the deck. Aeden squeaked as the wind caught her tunic, glad that she had ignored Guy and Natalia like usual and not worn a dress. This was much more practical.

Almost as soon as they had stepped away from the door and were making their way towards the bridge, a pair of griffins and a liger spotted them and attacked.

Tear froze one griffin with Nightmare, and Jade withdrew his spear again to run it through, while Aeden used Fang Blade to destroy the other.

Aeden's skin crawled as hot purple blood splashed on her face. She wiped it off with her sleeve as quickly as she could, trying to ignore the burning sensation on her skin. _They're just monsters, not humans. The blood isn't really hurting you. Just ignore it. Just ignore it!_

Jade took out the other monster stunned by Tear's Pow Hammer, and Aeden poked the red hammer with her sword, absently wondering where it came from and where it went when it wasn't needed.

It only took them a few minutes and two more encounters with monsters to reach the hatch that lead to the bridge.

Jade touched the door and it opened easily. He frowned, but gestured for Tear to follow.

"Stay here," she ordered Aeden then headed inside after Jade.

Aeden looked after her in dismay. "Wait! What am I- oh."

She turned back around to keep a lookout or something, only to be surprised by an Oracle Knight coming right at her, sword raised. "Die!"

Aeden held her sword out as terror flooded her system. "Stay back! I'm not- kyaaa!"

Hot blood hit her face, red this time, as the man died on her sword. Aeden stumbled back as he collapsed, dropping the sword still imbedded in the Oracle Knight's chest.

Tear and Jade came running at the sound of her scream.

"Aeden, what's wrong?" Tear asked, but Aeden couldn't hear her.

Aeden fell to her knees. "He's dead. Dead." She buried her face in her blood-stained hands. "Blood... Oh... no... nonono..."

**"Icicle Rain!"**

"Aeden, look out!" Tear jumped aside as a bolt of ice fell from above, but Aeden, still unresponsive, took the full weight of the blow, knocking her unconscious. Shards of the ice hit Tear and took her down as well.

Still conscious, but unable to move, Tear could only see a pair of armored boots hit the deck from her position. She didn't see Jade, but she heard the distinctive click of Major Legretta's twin guns and knew he must also either be incapacitated, or unwilling to let Legretta hurt them.

A man's voice, the same that had called out the arte, rang out. "Is that really all you got?" He snorted. "And afraid of blood too? You're poor excuses for Guardians."

_He thinks Aeden's a Fon Master Guardian as well, _Tear realized. _But he sounds so familiar. Anyone that familiar with the Guardian Corps should know that the Maestros haven't assigned anyone other than Anise and I._

An Oracle Knight saluted the man. "Sir, what should we do with them?"

The boots stopped an inch away from touching Aeden, who was lying face down, then turned back, as if the man had been distracted by addressing the Knight. He paused, then walked back to the Knight.

"Kill them," the man ordered dispassionately, facing away from Tear and Aeden.

"No, don't kill them," Legretta interrupted, then turned to the man. "Have you forgotten our orders, Asch?"

He huffed, then Legretta noticed Tear struggling to raise her head. Legretta looked Tear in the eye, then something came down on Tear's head and everything went black.

...

With the blindfold on, Luke had no sense of time or location, but he knew it had been a good while since he and Ion had been kidnapped and they had been moved around quite a few times.

"Hey, Ion."

Ion moved, his robes rustling. "Yes, Fon Master?"

"You didn't have to come with me, you know. You could be back at Daath, working in the library or something. I bet Mohs or Tritheim could use you as an assistant while I'm gone."

"Without you, Fon Master, I have no role to fulfill within the Order."

Luke turned towards his voice. "What are you talking about? Ion, you might not be the strongest person, but you're smart and organized. Surely someone-"

A man's voice echoed as armored feet made their way down the stairs and stopped in front of Luke. "So _you're_ the Fon Master. Your Guardians aren't doing their job very well." The man's tunic rustled as he folded his arms, looking at Ion. "And what's this, a stray mutt you picked up? You're so ridiculously kindhearted. Just what I'd expect from a dreck like you."

"What do you want?" Luke demanded, his boldness surprising even himself. "I refuse to go back to Daath!"

"You idiot. Enjoy this freedom; you're going to end up going back eventually, whether you like it or not. But that'll be the Major's problem, not mine." He turned and walked away.

The tap of Legretta's heeled boots echoed and came to stop in front of Luke.

"Get up. As soon as Arietta returns, we're leaving."

...

_She lay on the cold stone, shivering. She didn't understand what was going on, all these sights and sounds she couldn't comprehend._

_"How could you?!" a boy's voice shouted._

_"Enough," a man said, and a little red-headed body flew backward, landing on her._

_Sticky red fluid dripped on her face, and green eyes stared into hers until they closed._

_Her breathing grew desperate as animal fear welled up inside her chest._

"Aeden? Aeden, wake up."

Aeden blinked her eyes open, her heart still racing. Tear was gently shaking Aeden's shoulder as Mieu watched in concern.

"You looked like you were having a nightmare," Tear explained. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm-" Aeden stopped at the sight of dark red stains on her clothes and had to fight back the urge to be sick.

Tear watched Aeden's face go pale. "Don't worry, it's not your blood."

"But I killed him..."

"He was trying to kill you," Jade said, from where he stood looking at the energy bars across the door. "It was defense. In battle it's kill or be killed, and, to get out of here, there will be more fighting."

"Don't you care about human lives at all?" Aeden stared at the two soldiers, and Jade and Tear looked at each other.

"Human lives _are_ precious," Jade agreed finally. "But if we wait here and do nothing, then many more will be lost when a war begins."

"The Colonel's right," Tear said quietly. "I don't kill because I want to, but because I have no other choice."

"I don't..." Aeden trailed off, and Tear suddenly remembered what it was like when she first began as a member of the Oracle Knights.

"I forgot you're just a civillian." Tear put her hand on Aeden's shoulder. "We can protect you if you don't want to fight."

Jade folded his arms. "With that said, are you ready to go?"

"Yeah, just... just give me a minute."

...

Luke raised his hands, feeling the thrum of the energy flowing through the Daathic seal. He frowned as he tried to undo the seal, but just like every other time he had tried to do a complex arte, he felt something blocking him, preventing him from unleashing the fonons needed.

Behind Luke, Ion watched in concern. He turned to Legretta. "Please, Major, he can't-"

"He will," she replied grimly.

Ion bit his lip, then raised his hands slightly and whispered, "**By the power of the Fon Master, I command thee- Unlock!"**

Suddenly, Luke felt the energy within the seal shatter.

Legretta touched his shoulder, turning him to lead him back. "Good job, Fon Master."

_But I didn't do it._

_"Good job," Ion said softly from next to him, and Luke smiled uneasily at the sound of his voice._

"Thanks Ion, but I-" He was cut off as he heard a sigh and someone fell to the ground. Luke turned towards Ion.

"Ion, you okay?" When there was no response, Luke stopped still. "Ion? Ion?!"

Legretta poked him in the back. "Keep moving."

"Just let me take this stupid blindfold off, alright? I just wanna see if he's okay."

Legretta sighed. "Very well, since we're in a hurry." She put her hand over his eyes, then tore the blindfold off.

Luke blinked in the sun. He was standing on a sandy path leading away from a series of concentric grassy hills, the most central of which had a dark tunnel leading into it.

Luke turned to see behind him a few steps an Oracle Knight picking up Ion's limp body. Luke moved towards them, but Legretta stepped in between them.

"Why do you care so much? He's nothing. A mere pawn in this world."

"Because he's my friend, and if it wasn't for me, he wouldn't be out here! I'm..." Luke stopped, something dawning on him. "I'm responsible for what happens to him."

Legretta wasn't impressed.

"Just keep walking, Fon Master."

...

"We've stopped. They must be waiting for their people to return."

Jade stared at the bars of energy for a moment, then sharply gestured at them, flicking something through the bars. They sparked dangerously, then something exploded and they vanished. Alarms began to wail.

Running out into the hall, he grabbed the nearest intercom. "I command you in the name of the Necromancer! Begin Operation: Corpse Hunt!"

Suddenly, the hall went dark. Doors between bulkheads slammed down and sealed, and a deathly silence fell over the _Tartarus._

Jade turned back to look at Tear and Aeden who were staring at him. "It's an emergency shutdown mechanism I programmed into the _Tartarus._ Now," he pointed down the hall. "Our weapons are probably down here somewhere. If you hunt around, I'm sure you'll find them."

"Was that really necessary?" Tear finally asked.

Jade tilted his head. "Was what necessary?"

"The-" Tear sighed. "Oh, never mind. Where did you say our weapons are?"

"In one of these cells. They're very nice weapons- I doubt they would have gotten rid of them," Jade added blithely.

"What are you going to do?" Aeden asked as Tear began poking around in the other cells.

Jade began walking down the hall, glancing into each cell as he did so. "The port hatch is the only one that will open in the event of an emergency, so that's the one that they'll have to come through. We'll be waiting to rescue Luke and Ion there."

"But all of the bulkheads are sealed," Tear commented, returning with their weapons in her arms. "You just did that yourself.

"Well, yes," Jade agreed, stopping at a room full of crates. "I'm looking for something to help us get there."

"What kind of something?" Aeden asked, and Jade turned around and smiled.

"Oh, something fun." He gestured at the crates. "Could you help an old man move these, ladies?"

Tear put her shoulder against a crate, and Aeden pushed on one next to her.

"Old? Just how old _are_ you?" Aeden grunted, and nearly fell over as Jade unexpectedly added his strength to hers, easily moving the crate.

"Thirty-five," he answered. "Ah, here it is." He pointed to a crate full of... what?

Her crate out of the way, Tear walked over. "Is that what I think it is?"

"Probably. It's gunpowder. I confiscated it last month from some soldiers who were making a bit on the side by selling pilfered supplies, and left it back here for safe keeping."

Tear nodded. "I see. It'll blow a hole in the wall and we can get to the port hatch that way. So how do we light it? A fonic arte, or...?"

"I was thinking more along the lines of Mieu."

Jade looked down at Mieu hopping up and down excitedly. "Mieu'll do it! Mieu wants to help!"

Aeden stared at them all. "Uh... Doesn't anyone else think this all sounds a bit _dangerous_?!"

"Ready, Mieu?" Jade said, completely ignoring Aeden, and Mieu took a deep breath.

**"Fire!"**

The crate exploded with enough force to blow through the wall, and Jade climbed through the still smoking hole, Tear just behind him. Aeden reluctantly followed them out.

...

As soon Legretta saw the _Tartarus,_ she knew something was wrong. It was too still. "Go ahead and see if you can contact the bridge," she quietly ordered an Oracle Knight.

"Sir!"

Luke kept glancing back at Ion, who had opened his eyes and was staring down at the ground in despondent silence.

The Oracle Knight was waiting for them at the port hatch. "Sir, the bridge is not responding."

Legretta frowned. "Open the hatch."

...

"Go!" Jade hissed as the ramp lowered and the hatch opened.

He leapt down the ramp to engage Legretta, while Aeden held out a fire-breathing Mieu to fend off the startled Oracle Knights. Taken by surprise and with Jade's spear at her neck, the God-General was forced to raise her hands in defeat, throwing her guns aside.

"You are a force to be reckoned with, Jade Curtiss, even with your artes sealed."

Jade's eyes narrowed. _How does she know that? Did she assume it because I did not simply blast her with an arte, or is it something else?_

"Tear, now!" Jade looked back at her, but Tear shook her head, pointing at something beyond him.

The Oracle Knight holding Ion was a bit more resourceful than most: he was also holding his sword at Ion's neck.

There was silence for a moment- even Mieu went quiet- then the silence was shattered by a liger bounding out of the hatch, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake and sending Tear flying.

The Oracle Knights, no longer surprised by Mieu, surrounded Aeden and Tear, and Legretta leapt away from Jade and grabbed her guns, raising them to keep his head in her sights.

"What's going on, Arietta?"

"The _Tartarus_ is unresponsive." Arietta climbed down and patted the liger. "I only made it here by having my friend tear through the bulkheads."

"Now then-" Legretta began, but a shout from above distracted her.

"Hya!" The blond man landed easily, jumping from the deck above, and took out the Oracle Knights surrounding Aeden and Tear. Drawing his blade, he deflected Legretta's wild shots as she jumped out of the way.

Using the distraction, Jade ducked away from Legretta using a single-handed roll, and ran up the ramp. He caught Arietta in a headlock before she had a chance to call out.

"Pardon me," he said to her.

"Now," Jade added loudly and Legretta froze.

He gestured behind him. "Now, if you would kindly drop your weapons _again _and head inside the _Tartarus._"

Legretta, looking vaguely amused, and the few Oracle Knights still standing complied.

"Go on," Jade told Arietta. "You and your monsters too."

Arietta looked back at the group, indecision on her face, but Jade gently pushed her inside.

As the hatch closed behind them, Jade gestured for the others to get moving. "Come along. It will take them some time, but we want to be as far away as possible before they get the ship moving again."

Ion, who was sitting on the ground where the Oracle Knight had dropped him, climbed to his feet and joined Luke, the two walking together, while Tear and Jade took the lead.

Aeden turned to the blond man, smiling widely. "I'm so happy to see you! How did you find me?"

He folded his arms. "Well, believe me, it wasn't easy. I had to hunt all over to find you."

Tear looked back at the two. "That's right. Aeden, who is this?"

"Oh, this is a servant at our manor, Guy Cecille. He's been with me as long as I can remember."

Guy nodded. "I was a childhood friend of her brother. He asked me to take care of her, and I've tried, believe me." He shook his head. "But then you disappear, only to reappear in Malkuth of all places!"

Tear slowed, holding out her hand to Guy. "Pleased to meet you. I'm Tear."

Guy jumped back, and Tear looked at Aeden. Jade and the others stopped walking to watch the unfolding event.

Aeden sighed. "Don't worry about it. He does this to me too. Guy... doesn't really do well with women."

Tear stepped closer, still holding out her hand. "Well, feel free to not think of me as a woman."

Guy yelped and hid behind Luke and Ion. "S-sorry! I-it's not you, really!"

"It looks more of a _phobia_ of women," Jade commented drily. "Well, with introductions out of the way, shall we keep moving?"

"Um, yeah. About that..." Aeden folded her arms. "Where exactly are we going?"

Jade started walking again. "To St. Binah. Anise is going to meet us there."

"Whee! New places!" Mieu flew in a circle around Aeden's head, and she tried to knock him away.

"Ugh, quit it! That's really annoying, Thing!"

Mieu stopped, blinking at her. "Thing?"

Aeden glared at the cheagle. "Yeah. Thing. Quit it."

Mieu smiled happily and began flying in a circle around her head again. "Yay, Mistress gave Mieu a nickname!"

"Argh!" Aeden spun, trying to catch Mieu and her nose bumped into Luke's head.

"Move," she muttered, her ears turning red like her hair.

Luke caught Mieu and put the cheagle on his shoulder, then looked down at Aeden. He didn't have to look far. They were almost exactly the same height.

"Hey, cheagles are sacred. I could have you punished for abusing one." He smiled to show he wasn't serious, but Aeden backed away, muttering something about getting something from Tear.

...

It was a few hours later when they stopped for a brief break.

**SKIT: Campfire Flowers**

**Jade: Well, well, Guy. Good job, getting a lovely lady on each arm. I'm impressed.**

**Guy: Eeek! *hurriedly backs up***

**Tear: *blushes* Colonel-!**

**Aeden: He didn't mean you. He meant me and Mieu.**

**Mieu: But, Mistress, I'm a boy!**

**Aeden: What?! You don't sound like a boy! Why have you been following me around then?!**

**Mieu: Because Mistress saved Mieu's life!**

**Aeden: That wasn't what I meant! That's it, you are NOT sharing my room anymore!**

**Mieu: ...?**

**Tear: *sweatdrop* *sigh* I don't think it really matters...**

Tear passed around a canteen of water she had picked up at some point while hunting for their weapons.

Aeden took a sip, then tried to pass it to Guy, but he was looking off somewhere in the distance.

"Hey, Guy? Guy?"

"Huh?" He looked back and smiled. "Sorry, were you saying something?"

"Water?" She offered it to him, but he shook his head, and Aeden made a face.

"Is it 'cause _girls_ drank out of it?"

Guy laughed. "No, I just don't want any. Thanks anyway."

"Well, okay..."

Tear stood suddenly. "Shh. I heard something."

A small group of Oracle Knights appeared out of the brush.

The lead Knight pointed at them "There they ar-rgh!"

He went down, Jade's spear buried in his helmet.

**"Sonic Spear." **Jade quickly removed his spear from the body as Guy leapt to his feet, drawing his blade. Behind them, Tear prepared to use an arte. Looking uncertain, Luke got to his feet and picked up his staff, standing in front of the much smaller Ion.

It felt wrong to Aeden to stand back and let the others fight, but the sword in her hand wouldn't stop shaking. No, it was her _hand_ that was shaking. All she could see was the bright crimson blood...

"Aeden, look out!" Tear cried, but she was too far away. Aeden couldn't move as the Oracle Knight brought his sword down on her head.

_"Aeden!"_

She closed her eyes, but the final stroke never came. Something heavy fell on her, knocking her to the ground and she reopened her eyes to a person with a head of blond hair, chunks dyed red with blood, lying on top of her.

Guy weakly rolled sideways. "Sorry, silly girl," he whispered, then his eyes flickered shut.

Aeden hurriedly sat up and moved to kneel next to him. "Guy? Guy? Guy, wake up!"


	9. God-Generals and Papers - St Binah

**AN: I'm sorry for these updates being so sporadic! My life's been really busy recently, so I haven't had much time to write. But now it's settled down, so I'm hoping to get a new chapter up every other weekend...ish. **

** Wolf Moon: Thank you for continuing to review! If I had something to give to you, I would. ...wait, how would you feel about one of Peony's rappigs?**

**Peony: O_O NOT MY DARLING RAPPIGS!**

**Okay, Peony... How about some special cookies with icing instead? ^_^**

** All my readers: Thank you all for sticking around and reading! I really wish I could give you all something, but you'll just have to be content with virtual cookies. Aeden, pass the nice readers their cookies.**

**Aeden: *looks up* No.**

**Hey! I'll tell Van.**

**Aeden: ...Fine.**

***Tales of the Abyss doesn't belong to me! Please enjoy and tell me what you like and dislike, so this can get better and better!***

* * *

Aeden looked around in a panic, but the others were busy. Tear threw up a shield to block a blow from another Oracle Knight, while Jade took out the one that had tried to kill Aeden, then turned to fight another.

Aeden was trying to tear her sleeve in order to do something staunch the blood when someone tapped her shoulder. She looked up to see the Fon Master looking down at her.

"Hey. I know a little survival aid. Let me help." He glanced over his shoulder, but both their allies and enemy were occupied. "Tear would be unhappy if I used an arte, but I can stop the blood. She doesn't have to know."

Aeden looked down at Guy then back up at the Fon Master, distrust warring with fear inside her. He wasn't much older than herself up close and what did she know about him, really? Only that he was in charge of the Order whose Knights were trying to kill them right now and he sided with those Malkuthians. But Guy's blood was staining her hands and the ground and she really couldn't think about that right now, or she'd lose it.

"Okay," she whispered, unable to make her voice louder than that. "Okay, Fon Master."

Reaching into the item bag, he pulled out a square of thick bandages and put his hand on it. His hand glowed green for a second, then he pressed the square to the wound on Guy's head. When he pulled it away to look at the wound, the square had turned a dark red.

He saw the look on Aeden's face. "Don't worry, look, it's already stopped bleeding. Tear can heal him quickly."

Aeden shook her head, and he peered closer.

"Are you hurt? You look really pale."

"No, Fon Master-"

"Call me Luke," he interrupted. "There's no need to use my title."

"No, Luke... It's just... so much blood..."

Luke rubbed his nose. "Mmm... Well, Van told me that head wounds bleed a lot, but I wouldn't be too worried about that since we have Tear..."

Aeden looked up at him. Luke was looking at the ground in concentration, clearly trying to remember if there was anything else to do, but his hands had left a red mark the same color as his hair, almost like a mustache, under his nose. Aeden didn't know why it was so funny, but she began to laugh at the sight, hiccuped, then laughed again, her laughter indistinguishable from the interspersed sobs.

"Whoa, hey, it's okay, really!" Luke took her by her shoulders, but she just shook him off.

Tear knelt next to the sobbing girl. Luke looked at her helplessly, but Tear ignored Aeden and instead closed the wound on Guy's head with an arte. Only then did Tear turn her attention to Aeden.

Tear put her hands on the other girl's shoulders. "Aeden. Aeden, you're hysterical. Can you hear me?"

Aeden shook her head, hiccuping. "I-I _don't_-"

"Shh." Tear put her hand on Aeden's head and sang a short refrain. Aeden's eyes immediately closed as she fell asleep.

Jade came over. "We should get moving. More could be coming."

"Agreed." Tear turned to Luke. "I shouldn't ask you this, but do you think you could carry Guy for a little? It'll only be until we find a place to make camp. I'm afraid if I try to carry him and he wakes up he could hurt himself again."

"What about Jade?" Luke looked at the Colonel, but Jade just smiled.

Tear wrapped Aeden's arms around her neck to make her easier to carry. "We'll need Jade's hands free if we run into anything we need to fight."

"Well, okay..."

...

Aeden woke up about five minutes later. "Hey, what are you doing? Put me down!"

"Good. If you're awake, then you can walk." Tear unceremoniously let go of Aeden's hands and Aeden tumbled backward into the dusty road.

"Ow..." She rubbed her head and glared at Tear's back. "You didn't have to do _that." _She frowned. "Wait, how did you end up carrying me? The last thing I remember is... Guy!" She looked around frantically as she stood.

"Right here." Aeden turned to see Luke half-carrying, half-dragging Guy with help from Ion.

In the front, Jade waved a hand above his head to get everyone's attention, then stopped and he turned around in order to face them. "We'll stop here for the night," he explained, pointing off to the side of the road.

Tear folded her arms. "Colonel, not to question your orders, but... won't we be awfully visible in that location, even with the hills?"

"No, no. Follow me." As they walked off the road, it became clear that on the other side of the slight hill was a hollow, filled with a small stand of trees and brush, and Tear had to admit that it was a perfect campsite. A little too perfect, but when asked, the Malkuth Colonel brushed off all questions.

...

They were sitting around the campfire when night fell, Aeden wearing Jade's outer tunic while her clothes dried. Tear had insisted on trying to clean the blood out of them, an operation that had actually met with some success after Ion had come over with a simple arte he had picked up at some point during his reading to help remove things- it worked the same on petrification as on stains.

Aeden shuddered. No matter what they did, she was going to burn those clothes when she got back to the manor.

"Ngh... Aeden?"

She spun around.

Guy was sitting up shakily, his hand to his head. "W-What happened? Ungh... My head aches."

Aeden almost threw her arms around him, but didn't. The silvery scar was already hidden by his fluffy blond hair, and she was sure it would probably disappear completely with time. Tear and Ion had also done the same thing they had done to her clothes gently to Guy's hair, and, despite her protests, she was glad to see the crimson gone.

"Guy... you... you saved my life." Aeden explained what had happened, and Guy nodded, wincing as his head movements aggravated his headache.

"Yeah, it's coming back to me now." His face changed suddenly. "Lady Aeden, I behaved inappropriately towards you and for that I apologize."

"What? For your unconscious body landing on me? Guy, you saved my life, don't apologize! It makes the whole heroic thing seem a little..."

"...a little false?"

The two looked up at Jade, who smiled and spread his hands. "Sorry for interrupting this little lover's spat-"

"It's not-" Aeden began.

"I would never-" Guy protested at the same time.

Jade sighed. "_Friendly_ argument, then. But we need to talk, Aeden."

Aeden looked at him guardedly. "About what?"

Tear looked a bit uncomfortably at the ground. "About what happened today. Like I said before, it's completely understandable if you don't want to fight. You can stand back with the Fon Master and Ion if you want."

Jade pushed his glasses up on his nose. "This world would be a better place if there were more people who did not want to fight."

"Look, I-" Aeden swallowed, fighting down the nausea. "I'll fight. I just- I can't just sit around and do nothing while innocent people get hurt, even if that means fighting... and killing... other humans."

"We'll hold you to that," Jade warned seriously. "We can't have any more of our party getting injured."

...

Luke took Tear by the arm, pulling her aside. "Look, why are you being so hard on her? I can fight too-"

Tear removed his grip with a self-defense move, twisting his arm behind him, and held his arm like that for a second, then let go.

"Fon Master, it is not your job to fight, and despite Van's basic training, you would be no match for an enemy on the battlefield. You can't even use any artes more powerful than basic ones. There's no way I could keep you safe that way."

Luke turned around to face her again. "I understand, but-

Tear looked up at him steadily. "Have you ever killed a man?"

Luke's gaze fell. "No."

"The ability to take a life is a heavy one. Don't take on a burden you don't need to."

...

The next morning, Jade and Tear were the first up and had the campsite cleaned by the time Aeden opened her eyes. Guy was packing away cooking supplies while Ion softly shook Luke awake.

"Ow..." Aeden muttered, rubbing her stiff and sore neck. "I hate this..."

A bag packed with various supplies landed on her lap, and she looked up to see Jade holding out a kerchief with a cold pile of rice on it that yesterday might have been a rice ball.

Wrinkling her nose, she took it. "Hey, don't we have anything better to eat?"

"Everyone else already ate. We'll leave as soon as Luke's awake. You can eat while you walk," Jade said over his shoulder.

"What about Luke?" she complained at Jade's retreating back.

"He'll get something, if Tear has anything to say about it."

...

"Uh oh," Tear said, stopping and raising her hand.

Aeden, not aware of what the hand sign meant, bumped into Tear's back before she realized Tear had stopped walking. "'Uh oh'? 'Uh oh'?! What's _that_ supposed to mean?"

Tear turned back to Jade, ignoring Aeden, and Aeden poked her head around Tear.

There was a walled... well, Aeden wasn't quite sure if it qualified as a city, but it was certainly larger than Engave. At the main gate was a pair of Oracle Knights checking the few travelers, while a couple more Knights loitered around the gate.

Guy cursed softly. "Well, now what?"

"They're after me." Luke stared at the Knights. "Look, maybe I could order-"

Tear sighed. "_No, _Fon Master. No heroics. These Knights are under the six God-Generals' command; they won't listen to you."

Jade pushed up his glasses. "And at least three of the God-Generals are somewhere around here."

"Oh my. What are you doing out here, Colonel Curtiss?"

The group turned to see the Rose woman from Engave behind them, driving a wagon.

Jade walked up to stand next to her. "What are you doing here?"

"We're delivering supplies from Engave to the citadel, St. Binah, in case there's an attack by Kimlasca." Rose looked worried, but she smiled anyway. "I see you found the Fon Master- that's good. We received your note about the cheagles."

Luke looked at his feet, the tips of his ears turning as red as his hair, and Jade ignored the comment. "Could we trouble you to let us hide in one of the wagons? There seems to be a group of malcontents looking for the Fon Master, and we need to get inside St. Binah."

"Of course you may."

...

"This'll never work," Guy muttered under his breath.

Across from him, Aeden rubbed her nose, trying not to sneeze at the scent of the cheagle sitting on her head, and Luke looked around curiously.

"Why not?" Luke whispered back. "It does in stories."

"Kids' stories, _maybe_-" Guy started, but Tear shushed him.

"Hush. We're almost there."

"Halt, who goes there?" a vaguely metallically echoing voice said, and Aeden realized it must be the Oracle Knight at the gate.

"Supplies from Engeve. We should be the second cart," Rose answered, and Tear and Guy readied their weapons in case the man decided to search the wagon.

Apparently, however, that statement was enough for him. "Go on then."

...

"Thank you," Luke said as they climbed out of the wagon out of sight of the Oracle Knights, and Rose smiled.

"It's no trouble at all for the Fon Master and Colonel Curtiss. Well, you'll have to excuse me; I have to deliver these supplies." Rose smiled and waved bye as she drove away.

Jade folded his arms, looking around. "Well, it seems that there aren't any Oracle Knights inside St. Binah, so as long as we keep a low profile, we should be fine. Now, Anise probably left a letter for us at the military base..."

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's _go_ already," Aeden muttered, and Tear shot her a look.

Aeden glared back at her, but stopped when she caught Guy shaking his head.

"Hmph." She folded her arms and turned away.

Luke, distracted by all the sights and sounds of St Binah, slowly turned in a circle. "Whoa..."

St Binah deserved the description of The Citadel from what Luke could see of the thick wall that surrounded the entire town. Mysteriously, a massive tree grew in the center, but no one seemed to find it the least bit strange.

The party appeared to be standing in the main square (well, it was actually a circle) with the Inn on one side, a main road leading off opposite, and a gate guarded by a pair of Malkuth soldiers leading to what must be the military base between the two. A few citizens browsed the wares at the stands selling various items from food to a small selection of weaponry and a dog that looked perfectly at home wandered around the flower beds. A small child sat to one side, looking a bit despondent as he rolled a ball around.

Jade headed towards the two guards, confirming it was indeed the military base.

"I need to speak to General McGovern."

The soldier saluted. "He currently has a visitor, but you can go on in, sir."

With more than a little apprehension, Aeden followed Jade and the others in.

Inside, it looked nothing like Aeden had expected. It was not military at all; in fact the only hints that it _was _military were the guards scattered about and the Malkuth soldier napping in one of the extra rooms on his break. The Malkuth crest of the lyre wasn't even that prevalent in the decorations, except for the teal banners.

Actually, it was so ordinary, it was a bit disappointing.

Jade pushed open the door to main conference room.

"Can't you do something about these Oracle Knights?" an old man with a long white beard and red robe was complaining. Across the table from him, a younger man in a Malkuth uniform spread his hands, shaking his white head.

"As I already said, Father, officially they're considered Scorers, and we can't interfere without direct orders from His Imperial Majesty."

The old man turned toward them. "Ah, Jade."

Jade nodded towards the older man, then the younger. "Field Marshal McGovern. General McGovern."

The old man shook his head. "There's no need for that. I'm retired now. What about you, Jade? Don't you think it's time to accept a promotion? You could be a General by now."

Jade smiled wryly. "Oh, I think being a Colonel is enough work for me."

"Well, do you think you could get rid of these Oracle Knights?" Elder McGovern said, continuing his thought from earlier. "I've been entrusted with St Binah, and they're upsetting the citizens."

"They're not helping matters with my troops either," the younger General McGovern added.

"They're after us, I'm afraid," Jade explained. "They should leave after we do."

"Can you tell us what all this is about?" General McGovern asked, and Jade shook his head.

"I can't. All I can tell you is that I'm under direct orders from the emperor."

General McGovern rubbed his forehead. "I understand. His Majesty... I understand you and he go back a long time."

Guy folded his arms. "Just who _is_ Jade anyway?"

Tear shook her head. "It seems he's rather important."

Either not hearing or ignoring the comments behind him, Jade turned toward General McGovern. "Did you get a letter from a Fon Master Guardian by any chance?"

General McGovern nodded, looking slightly apologetic. "Yes. I'm afraid we opened it, for security purposes."

"That's fine. It shouldn't contain anything that would be a problem for you to see."

General McGovern handed the letter to Jade, who scanned it. "I believe this is addressed to you, Fon Master."

Luke took the letter from Jade and slowly read its contents aloud.

_"Dear big brother Luke," _(it began) "_If you're reading this, then you know I made it here safely. Don't worry, the you-know-what is still safe too. ^_^ It looks like there's some Oracle Knights coming, so I'll meet you at the next spot. The Colonel knows where. XOXO, Anise._

_"P.S. Tell that nosy Colonel it isn't nice to read other people's letters. -_- "_

Finished,Luke looked up. Guy had a hand over his mouth, like he was trying not to laugh. "Sounds like this Anise knows you, Jade."

Jade looked tragically pained. "Me? Read other people's mail?"

"Where's this place she's talking about?" Luke turned to Jade, who folded his arms.

"Kaitzur, on the border. It's the next rendezvous point."

Guy looked over at Aeden. "Van's waiting there for us as well with our passports. I was going to tell you, but with everything going on, it kinda... slipped my mind." He smiled sheepishly. "Sorry."

"You should be, you big idiot!" Aeden complained. "That's _important. _I'm going to have to punish you, you know." She tackled Guy, making him yelp. He tried to get away as she messed with his sandy hair.

Tear looked at her feet, her hands tightening. _Van'll be there._

Ion watched her for a moment, but didn't say anything, while conflicting emotions of worry and happiness flitted across Luke's face.

Jade turned to General McGovern. "May I borrow a map?"

Elder McGovern nodded. "Of course, we'll give you any supplies you need that we can spare."

...

As they left, Aeden followed Tear's gaze and noticed that the small child was still sitting to the side of the square, now tossing a ball to the dog.

Aeden frowned. "Hey, that kid's still there. You think he's lost?"

"He's probably fine," said Jade. "I would leave him alone. There's no need-"

Aeden waved a hand as she headed towards the boy. "Yeah, well you're awful, old man."

The others sighed and followed her.

Aeden knelt in front of the child. "Hey, kid, what are you doing? Are you lost?"

The boy smiled. "Oh, hi, lady. No, I live here." He looked past her, noticing the others, eyes landing on Jade's uniform.

"Hey, you're with the military, right?" When Jade nodded, the boy continued, "I heard that there's this man called the Necromancer in the army. They say that he scours the battlefields looking for bodies so he can bring the dead back to life! I wish I could meet him... I'd ask him to bring my dad back."

The others looked towards Jade, but the Malkuth Colonel simply nodded towards the boy. "I'm sorry for your loss."

"S'okay. Well, I gotta get home." The boy waved and left, the dog following him off.

"Those are just rumors, right?" Luke asked finally. "The whole hunting corpses thing."

"Of course," Guy agreed uneasily. "No one can bring the dead back."

Jade turned away, brushing past Aeden. "Where's there's smoke, there's fire."

Aeden looked at him. "Did you say something?"

Jade just smiled and shook his head. "Let's go before the Oracle Knights notice us."

As they approached the main gate, Tear suddenly pushed Luke aside. "Everyone, look out!"

Jade and Guy moved to stand next to a food stall, while Tear had to pull Aeden aside. Ion looked around, then joined Luke and Tear by the wall.

"Hey, what are-" Aeden complained, but Tear hushed her and pointed out the gate where a strange group was gathering outside St Binah.

...

The 4th Division Commander of the Oracle Knights, known more commonly as the God-General Legretta the Quick, tapped her booted foot on the ground.

"Well?" she asked the two Oracle Knights on guard. "Have you any news?"

"No, ma'am. No sign of the Fon Master."

Arietta the Wild, former Fon Master Guardian, held her doll closer to herself. "They killed Mommy! My liger friends told me so! They won't get away with this!"

Next to her, Sync the Tempest, a green haired boy wearing a mask, folded his arms. "Hey, Legretta, you'd better keep an eye on this kiddo here, or you're not gonna get your Fon Master back."

Arietta glared at him. "I'm not a kid!"

"That's enough," Largo rumbled. "You're acting like children in front of the troops." He turned to Legretta. "It's my fault. If I had not let the Necromancer get the better of me-"

Legretta shook her head. "Who knew he would be so powerful even with his artes sealed..."

"Ahahah! I told you, didn't I? That Jade will only be defeated by me!"

All four of the other God-Generals sighed. It was the God-General, Dist the Reaper, or as he liked to call himself-

"It is I, Dist the Rose!" the pale haired glasses-wearing man in a hovering armchair declared.

Sync snorted. "Don't you mean Dist the Reaper?"

"Whaaaat? How dare you call someone as beautiful as I a Reaper and not a Rose!"

Legretta closed her eyes and took a deep breath, then opened them again. "What about the Fon Master Guardian that got away?"

"Hey!" Dist complained, but as usual, no one was listening.

The Oracle Knight saluted. "The Fon Master Guardian was here, but Malkuth will only say it's classified."

Legretta made a decision. "We'll return to the _Tartarus._"

Sync nodded. "If we stay any longer we could spark a diplomatic incident with Malkuth."

"I can-" Largo began, but Legretta cut him off.

"The Necromancer nearly killed you. You need more rest." She gestured to the Oracle Knights. "Move out!"

"Hmph!" The last to leave, Dist folded his arms. "How dare they ignore me! They'll see..."

...

"So, Largo survived." Jade folded his arms thoughtfully.

"Who _are _these people?" Aeden asked and, to her surprise, it was Luke who answered.

"The Six God-Generals are the highest ranked members of the Oracle Knights in the Order and each has command of one of the Oracle Knight divisions. I haven't really interacted with them since they're under the Maestros' command, but I know they're supposed to be strong."

"So if that was five of the Six, who was missing? And what are they doing here?" Jade looked meaningfully at Luke.

Luke frowned in concentration. "Well, there's Arietta the Wild, Legretta the Quick, Sync the... um... um..." He looked to Tear for help, and she finished the list for him.

"Sync the Tempest, Largo the Black Lion and Dist the Reaper. The only one who wasn't there was Asch the Bloody."

"You know, I've never met him," Luke added thoughtfully. "The others at least I've seen around Daath. Didn't he replace, oh, what was her name? Canta- Cantor-"

"Major Cantabile," Tear corrected. "I don't think you're thinking of the same person, Fon Master. Asch has command of the 6th Division for Special Operations. He doesn't spend much time in Daath either, so it's not surprising you've never met him."

Jade spread his hands. "Whatever the case, let's keep moving. Anise is waiting for us at Kaitzur, and to get there we're going to have to cross the Fubras River."

Aeden looked at them in dismay. "Not _more _water!"

"I would be more worried about the monsters than the water." Jade smiled ominously.

...

"Hyah! **Crescent Strike!**" Guy cried, slicing through a frog-like Ribbit. He sighed, sliding his sword back in its sheath. "Man, there are a lot of these things."

"They are quite tough," Tear agreed. "I wonder how far ahead of us Anise is..."

Hey, about that," Guy called to Tear, "should we be concerned about her?"

Tear shook her head. "I wouldn't be. She _is_ Anise after all."

"Really...?" Guy blinked in surprise.

Coming to the bank, Aeden touched the fast-moving water and immediately pulled her hand back. "That's freezing!"

Jade came up behind Guy and put his hand on his shoulder, making Guy jump. "I just went to the nearest bridge. The last big storm and the snowmelt took it out, and the other is too far. We're going to have to ford the river."

"What?!" Aeden stared at him in shock. "You can't be serious!"

Jade spread his hands. "I can't do anything about it."

"Yeah, well-"

In the middle of their verbal sparring, Luke spoke up. "Wait, um... Is this going to involve swimming?"

The others looked at him, and he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

Tear tilted her head. "Hopefully not, but we _are_ fording a river. Why?"

"I don't know how to swim," Luke admitted. "I never learned."

Tear bit her lip, then held out her hand. "Stay close to me. I'll save you if you fall in."

"Thanks... But now I'm not sure whether to be reassured or worried that I'll fall..."

Tear stepped in, following a path of flat rocks through the middle of the river, and Luke gingerly followed her.

Ion sneezed as spray splashed him, and Jade gestured for Guy to step forward. Bemused, Guy did, and Jade turned to Ion. "Ion, climb on."

"What?" both exclaimed and Jade sighed.

"Don't you see? Ion's so small, if there's any kind of current, he's going to get washed away."

"You could have just asked, you know." Shaking his head, Guy knelt in front of Ion. "Get on my back, and I'll carry you over."

"You don't-" Ion began, but Guy just scooped him up and started across.

Aeden hung back, watching the water rush by, until Jade came up behind her.

"Aren't you going to follow him?"

Aeden glared at him. "Yeah. In a minute!"

"Let me guess, you can't swim either."

Aeden looked to the side, turning red, and Jade shook his head, mock-seriously.

"What are we coming to? Get in there, and I won't let you drown." He smiled. "After all, we have to get you home, right?"

"Fine," she mumbled. "You'd better _not_ drown me."

...

The whole group arrived on the other side only a bit wetter than before, except for Aeden, who hadslipped and fallen about half-way over. True to his word, Jade _had_ fished her back out, but Aeden was convinced he had taken his time doing it.

She shivered. "That water was _cold!_ How much further to Kaitzur? I'm getting tired of the outside."

"I can help, mieu!" Mieu breathed fire behind Aeden's head, making her yelp.

Aeden grabbed Mieu. "If you're going to breathe fire, do it where I can see you!"

"Mieu..."

"Stop right there!"

Everyone stopped in surprise at the order from above.

Arietta the Wild was standing above them, the large Liger from before behind her. "Don't move!" she ordered again, eyes flicking across the party starting with Luke and finally settling on Ion.

Luke stepped forward. "Arietta! I'm so glad you're alright! I asked about you, but no one knew where you'd gone."

"Shut up! You're with the people who killed Mommy!"

"Arietta, why-" Tear began, but Arietta shook her head.

Arietta hid her face in her stuffed creature. "After Mommy's home burned down, she moved into the Cheagle Woods. You people killed her! You're not getting away-"

Arietta was interrupted by a deep rumble, then the ground began to shake and a fissure opened up behind her, releasing strange purple vapors into the air.

"It's an earthquake!" Jade snapped, and Tear pointed at the fissure.

"Look out!"

Arietta clung to her liger, and both began to cough.

Realizing what was happening, Tear sang a melody, casting a glowing **Force Field **around the party. The earthquake subsided, leaving only a gaping fissure with a little purple vapor seeping out of it and an unconscious Arietta and liger as proof it had even happened.

"Wha-what was that?" Aeden asked, shaken. "What happened to Arietta?"

"It's the miasma. A noxious gas from under ground." Tear pointed at the purple vapors. "She was standing close to the fissure, and I used a Hymn to keep us safe, so she fell unconscious when we didn't."

"So what's going to happen when you can't keep the force field going any more? You can't keep it up forever, right?"

Jade drew his spear. "We'll be fine. It takes prolonged exposure to the miasma to cause negative effects and most of it has dissipated already."

Tear let the force field go, and, holding a hand over his mouth and nose, Jade walked over to Arietta.

"What are you doing?" Aeden demanded, and Jade turned back.

"We can't let her go," he explained. "They're going to find us again."

"You can't just kill an unconscious person! That's wrong!" Aeden looked at the others, but Guy and Tear only met her gaze for a moment, then looked away.

"She's right," Luke spoke up finally. "Arietta was one of my Guardians for a short while... I can't condone just killing her like this."

Jade put away his spear. "Fon Master, she clearly doesn't think of you as kindly as you do her. She most likely won't hesitate to kill you."

"I know, but this is wrong."

"Very well." Jade picked up Arietta's body.

Luke ran up next to him. "What are you doing?"

"Moving her away from the fissure. Unless you _want_ them to die from the miasma..."

Luke fell back. "Oh. That makes sense."

...

The group stopped to eat on the road several hours later.

"Come on," Aeden complained, pacing back and forth. "We're almost to Kaitzur. Why do we have to stop?"

Tear looked up from where she was putting together some rice balls. "Sit down. Everyone's hungry, and Ion needs a break."

Aeden glared over at the green-haired boy, who was sitting with his back to a tree, head back and eyes closed. She had to admit, he _did _look paler than usual.

Luke reached over and tried to steal a carrot off the cutting board. Reflexively, Tear rapped his fingers with a spoon, making him drop the carrot, then she pulled back.

"I'm sorry, Fon Master. I didn't mean-"

He smiled and shook his head, rubbing his hand. "Well, I guess I deserved that."

Tear put the spoon down, where it wasn't readily accessible. "I really am sorry. It's just sometimes my brother eats my ingredients instead of the food while I'm trying to cook and he's distracted... I guess it's become a habit of mine."

Jade sat down cross-legged next to Tear.

"Tear, there's something I've been meaning to ask you. Your hymns seem to be different from ordinary fonic hymns."

Aeden moved over to join the conversation. "Wait, there are other people who can sing like Tear?"

Tear nodded. "Yes. I can read the Score, but I mostly use hymns, so I'm considered a Melodist, not a Scorer. Usually hymns are just the incantations for fonic artes and a melody, so they are weaker than artes." She turned back to Jade. "But to answer your question, I use Yulia's Fonic Hymns."

Jade nodded. "I see... Hymns passed down from Yulia herself, supposed to have the same power as artes."

Ion yawned, rubbing his eyes sleepily. "I like your hymns, Tear. They're very nostalgic."

Tear looked back down at her ingredients. "Thank you."

Guy walked over from where he'd been keeping an eye on the road and joined them by the food, making sure to not touch either of the girls. "I have another question: What was Arietta talking about with her "Mommy"? Is there something else I missed?"

Even Luke shook his head. "I'm not really sure. I don't know very much about her history, since she was reassigned soon after I was made Fon Master."

"Her parents were killed in the Hod War," Ion said, surprising the group, who had thought his previous comment had been only a half-awake observation, not an addition to the conversation. He sat up, wrapping his arms around his knees. "Arietta was taken in and raised by monsters, and she's able to communicate with them. That's why she was recruited to be in the Oracle Knights."

"I see how that ability could be beneficial-" Jade started, but Tear interrupted him by dropping a kerchief with a rice ball and some carrots in his lap.

"Stop talking and eat. Remember, we need to keep moving or the God-Generals will find us again."

Aeden eyed her own rice ball distastefully. "Can't we make anything else?"

"I don't see _you_ coming up with any recipes." Tear folded her arms. "I'm doing the best I can with what we have. It's not easy feeding this many people on Rice, Carrots, and Sketchy Chicken."

"This is chicken?" Guy asked around the food in his mouth. "Are you su-"

"Do you _really_ want an answer to that?" Tear raised an eyebrow and Guy shut up.

"You're right." Jade paused, taking a bite of food, then swallowed and continued, "After we finish, we should move on. After all," he smiled at Aeden, "we're quite close to Kaitzur."

...

**The Border Fortress - Kaitzur**

"Please, sir," Anise was wheedling a Malkuth soldier as the party walked into the Malkuth half of Kaitzur. "I've lost my passport and papers, but I really need to get to the other side-"

The border guard shook his head. "Sorry, young lady. No passport, no crossing the border."

Anise turned away in a huff, glaring over her shoulder at the soldier. "I'll get you later, you punk," she muttered under her breath.

"Now, now, Anise. You don't want Luke to hear you talking like that, do you?"

Anise jumped at the sound of Jade's voice, then, brightening immediately, she ran over to the party and enthusiastically greeted Luke with a hug. "I'm so glad you're safe, big brother!"

Luke tousled her hair affectionately. "I'm glad to see you're safe too. That letter you left was pretty mysterious, you know."

Anise stared curiously at Guy. "Who's this?"

Guy bowed. "I'm Guy Cecille, a servant at the Fabre manor."

"Really?"

While introductions and explanations were going on, Aeden looked around. Again, the Malkuth side of the Kaitzur border crossing seemed fairly ordinary. There was an Inn, a few buildings and crates scattered about, and Malkuth soldiers at the gates and stationed in front of the Inn.

"Van should be here waiting for us with passports for me and Aeden," Guy finished.

Suddenly self-conscious, Aeden looked down, realized there were leaves all over her, and quickly tried to clean herself off, while on the other side, Luke looked around nervously.

"Sir," one of the border guards said politely, and the group turned to see a tall man with his ash blond hair in a thick ponytail and dressed in an Oracle Knights uniform passing the border guard his own identification.

"Master Van!" Aeden cried, running over to wrap her arms around him in a hug. She looked up at him. "I knew you'd come!"

Van smiled down at her, patting her head, and pulled a stray leaf out of her hair with his other hand. "It's good to see you're safe, Aeden." He looked up, eyes settling on Luke. "And Fon Master. I was told you were missing."

"I left Daath of my free will, Maestro," Luke replied uncomfortably.

"Is that so?" Van looked like he was about to say something else, but Tear interrupted the reunion by pointing her spear at Van's head.

"Van, you traitor. You aren't getting away this time."

Van stepped away from Aeden, raising his hands slightly. "Mystearica, you're the victim of a misunderstanding."

Jade put his hand on Tear's arm and quietly told her, "Tear, stop. Whatever differences you may have with him, this isn't the time or place."

Tear hesitated, but she could hear the Malkuth soldiers starting to murmur amongst themselves and she realized Jade was right. She lowered her spear and Van turned to Aeden.

"Come along with me. I have your and Guy's passports. I'll take you back to the manor." He turned to the others. "Fon Master, you and the others, please come with me as well. We can discuss what's going on later."

Luke started to follow him and Aeden, then looked back. He stopped.

Van stopped as well. "Fon Master?"

"Are you going to take me back to Daath?" Luke asked.

Van rested his hand on the hilt of his sword. "Yes, I am. That's where you need to be."

Luke looked at his feet. "I see."

* * *

**AN: (cont.) ^_^**

**Some of the names vary in spelling depending on which sources you're using. I'm trying to keep spellings consistent at least, if not entirely accurate to the game, (i.e. Guy is supposed to have the same last name as General Cecille, but due to a translation error it's different), but there may be mistakes here and there. Tell me if you see any! ^_^**

**I've found I like the scenes when the party sits down together and you get to see their little personality quirks better than writing fight scenes.**


	10. Griffins and Engineers - Choral Castle

**AN: Whoo hoo! Ten chapters! Yeah! And... over 2,000 views?! You guys are amazing! T-T**

**So... I know I sort of gloss over Guy, but... honestly, people generally won't jump to the most far-out, strange option until forced.**

***TALES OF THE ABYSS DOESN'T BELONG TO ME. Please enjoy, and leave a review! ^_^ ***

* * *

Van folded his arms and looked at the group. "Let's talk about this at the Inn," he decided finally, watching Jade carefully. "You can explain what's going on there."

...

Aeden dozed lightly on one of the beds with Mieu on top of her, while the others took places around the room, some sitting, some standing.

Luke looked up at Van, who was standing in the middle of the room where he could see everyone.

Van folded his arms. "Now, Fon Master, please explain to me why I received a report you had gone missing and yet I find you here in the company of a Malkuth Colonel, two Fon Master Guardians, and one of my students. _None_ of you kidnapped at all."

"Daath received a request for assistance from Colonel Curtiss, but Maestro Mohs didn't bring it to my attention," Luke began, and, with some help from Jade, explained what was going on.

Van nodded when they were done. "I see. Well, I'm sure Mohs was only doing what he thought was best-"

Tear had been listening in silence, hands tightening, but she couldn't stay quiet any longer. "Van, _you_ explain yourself. What are you doing? Why did _your_ subordinates attack the Fon Master? How could that be a 'misunderstanding'?!"

"They may be under me, but the Six God-Generals also belong to Mohs' faction within the Order."

Tear threw her hands up. "There _are_ no factions within the Order-"

Van shook his head. "That's where you're wrong, Tear. The division is very real, but as a Fon Master Guardian, you've been too close to see it. Both the reformists under the previous Fon Master and the conservatives under Grand Maestro Mohs have been careful to avoid upsetting the new Fon Master until they know which side he falls on."

Luke frowned. "The Order... is divided? And they've been waiting for me to take a side in an argument that I don't know about?"

Van put his hand on Luke's shoulder. "It doesn't affect you, so don't worry about it, Fon Master. It's just left over from all the chaos when you were chosen. I'm sure it'll be sorted out soon enough."

"So... you didn't send the God-Generals after us," Tear said slowly, as testing the words for a lie.

Van turned back to her. "Both them and I were likely sent to bring the Fon Master back to Daath. But Tear, I left you back in Daath. I _trusted _you to keep the Fon Master safe."

"She asked for some time off to deal with some personal matters." Luke looked up at Tear. "Right?"

"Personal matters? Surely you haven't-" Van looked disappointed. "Tear, did you really abandon your duties in order to come to Baticul?"

Tear looked at her feet. "I'm sorry. But to be fair, when the Grand Maestro learned I was to leave, he gave me another mission as part of the Intelligence Division."

"You're working with Mohs and you pretended not to know about the factions?" Anise shook her head. "You're shameless..."

"I didn't," Tear protested. "I haven't worked with the Intelligence Division since I was reassigned to the Guardian Corps."

"And what other mission is this, Tear?" Jade asked, but Tear shook her head.

"I'm sorry, it's classified."

Van went to the door, drawing their attention back to him. He stopped and turned at the doorway. "I believe I understand the situation now. I will escort all of you over the border, and to Baticul, before I return the Fon Master to Daath."

...

Van led the group through the gate and across the strip of no-man's-land between the two halves of the border fortress.

The Kimlasca side of Kaitzur was markedly different from the Malkuth side. Instead of the small town buildings on the Malkuth side, the Kimlasca side had military style Quonset huts. Wire fences and trenches cris-crossed the entire space and crates and barrels, presumably filled with military supplies, were scattered around.

Aeden and Luke stared at all the various equipment that confirmed Jade's story: at least one of the two countries was clearly war-ready.

Aeden comforted herself with the fact that the soldiers around didn't appear to be on high alert. The Kimlasca army wouldn't just attack Malkuth for no reason, would they?

"You weren't kidding," Guy said quietly to Jade. "It looks like a full-scale operation is in the works."

"While we were on the Malkuth side, I heard things have gotten even worse," Jade replied, equally softly. "There's been some skirmishes on both sides. Tensions run high and it would be easy for something small to set off something big."

Van stopped and turned back to look at them all. "Since I can travel faster alone, I'm going on ahead to the port to make sure things are ready for our departure. While I can't say this is the most comfortable place to stay, I would recommend that you get some rest, or at least some supplies."

He nodded to Aeden. "You stay out of trouble, all right? I don't want to have to patch you up again next time I see you."

"Yes, Master!" Aeden bowed in reply, and Van smiled and left.

"Ugh..." Anise looked around. "Why couldn't we stay at the Inn on the Malkuth siiiide? It looked a lot nicer than this place."

"Now, now, no complaining." Anise shivered as Jade put his hand on her shoulder, smiling his trademark smile. "I'm sure Aeden's happy to be back in her own country."

Aeden looked around. "Well, _I _say we should follow Master Van _now_. I wanna get _home._"

Tear folded her arms. "You do realize that means sleeping outside again, right?"

But Aeden wasn't listening. "Let's go already!"

Luke suddenly spoke up. "I think we should keep moving too. We want to stop the war, right? So the faster we get to Baticul, the faster it'll stop." He looked over at Ion. "Hey, are you going to be all right?"

Ion nodded. Even though he was still paler than what would pass for strictly healthy, his forest green eyes were determined. "Yes, Fon Master. I promise I won't hold you back."

...

"How about here? This spot? Here? Come onnnnnn!" Aeden moaned. "My feet are _killing_ me! Are we seriously gonna walk alllll night?"

"Guy," Anise said sweetly. "Please take care of _that._" Then she shoved Guy, knocking him into Aeden and both to the ground.

Guy yelped and leaped to his feet, while Aeden glared up at both of them.

"Hey, what was that for? You wanna get hurt, little kid?!"

"I'm not a kid!" Anise shot back. "And at least I'm cute, unlike _some_ people!"

At the head of the party, Jade sighed. "Ah, the playfulness of youth..."

Tear looked back. "I don't think... Oh never mind. Colonel, how about stopping here?"

Jade surveyed the proposed campsite. "I suppose this will do."

...

**SKIT: Magical Gear...?**

**Aeden: Hey, Guy?**

**Guy: Yeah?**

**Aeden: Where'd we get all this gear? Like bedrolls and stuff. It's like it appeared out of nowhere.**

**Guy: Well, Jade got- Gyaa! G-get off me!**

**Anise: *holding onto Guy's shoulders* It's magic! *mysteriously* Those bags can make anything you need appear...**

**Aeden: *looks in the Item Bag* Really?**

**Anise: *lets go of Guy* *Guy gasps* ...as long as you pay me 50,000 Gald! ^_^**

**Guy: *sigh* ...Don't listen to her.**

**...**

After eating some pasta Tear had made (a recipe she had learned from a woman in Engave), the others spread out around the campfire. Ion, Anise, and Aeden curled up in their separate bedrolls and almost immediately fell asleep, while Luke, Jade, and Guy sat around the campfire in silence and Tear quietly packed the ingredients back into their packs.

Jade stood. "I'll take the first watch. Tear, can you take the second?"

Tear nodded. "Yes, Colonel." Finishing, she unpacked her bedroll and lay down, facing away from the fire and the others.

Luke had been absently scratching lines in the dirt, but after that he dropped the stick he'd been using. "Guess I'd better get to bed too-" He looked up, straight into Guy's eyes. "Hey, why are you staring at me like that? You've been doing it for a while now. Is everything okay?"

Guy shook his head. "Sorry, Fon Master, it's just... You look like someone I used to know."

Luke looked up at the sky. "Really? Huh."

"He died a long time ago, though." Guy smiled apologetically. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to worry you. You should go to bed; it's still a walk to the port."

Luke lay down on his bedroll, looking up at the sky. "I wonder if this was written in the Score," he mumbled sleepily, then rolled over and closed his eyes, his breathing slowing into the steady rhythm of sleep.

Guy watched Luke for a little bit, unable to rid himself of the uneasy feeling that had haunted him since Van's visit, then turned away to try to get some sleep.

...

"Is that the port?" Luke asked in interest, and Guy nodded.

"Yeah, and we'll be taking a ferry back to Chesedonia from there." Guy looked back, shading his eyes. "It probably would have been faster to take a land route, but with the bridge blown up..."

"My, my. For a Kimlascan servant, you seem to know a lot about the geography of this area, Guy," Jade said, coming up behind him as the party walked through the main gate.

Turning back, Guy laughed. "Not really. I just like to read about places to go on vacations in my spare time."

"Why would you ever wanna go on vacation her-" Aeden's comment was cut off by a loud explosion directly ahead of them.

"That sounded like it came from the docks." Tear drew her spear and the whole party ran faster. As they came out from between the buildings and onto the docks proper, they could see smoke and even some flames rising from a ferry ship to their left. Dock workers and engineers ran in a panic back and forth from the ship, going about Van, who stood in the middle of the docks, looking up at a girl and griffin.

"Arietta, what do you think you're doing?" Van called up to the God-General.

Despite the fact she was hanging from a griffin by one hand, Arietta looked upset and even a bit apologetic. "I-I'm sorry, Commandant!"

Aeden and Luke ran up behind Van. "Master, what happened?" Aeden asked, and Luke nodded fervently.

Van looked at the pair. "Arietta turned her monsters on the ship." He looked back up at Arietta. "Who told you to do this?"

Arietta bit her lip. "Asch asked me to." A second griffin flew by, carrying a terrified looking engineer in its grip. Arietta swallowed. "And- And I've taken the only man who can fix the ship. The Fon Master and Ion need to come to Choral Castle or- or I'll kill him!"

"Arietta!" Van called after her, but Arietta and her monsters flew fast to the north.

Van looked down at the ground. "Asch..." He looked up, turning to the group. "You should head back to Kaitzur, Fon Master, Aeden. A military ship that can take us back should be arriving in a few days. We need only wait till then."

"What about that poor engineer?"Aeden burst out. "Won't they kill him?"

"I'll deal with Arietta. Don't worry about it." Van shook his head. "Just go back to the border. You'll be safe there."

"But-" Aeden started, and Luke put his hand on her shoulder.

He nodded his head once, sincere trust in his eyes. "If Maestro Van says he'll do something, he'll do it."

As they neared the gate, three engineers, their uniforms and faces streaked with soot and ash, stopped them.

The one in front, a brown haired man, bowed deeply to Luke. "Fon Master, please."

Luke stopped, confused. "What's wrong?"

The man looked up, his eyes pleading. "You _will_ save our crew chief, right?"

"See," the second, a auburn woman, broke in, "he was feeling great. He had just had his birthday Score read, and it said that a great disaster would be averted."

The last man, his black hair streaked with a bit of silver, nodded. "Please, Fon Master."

All three bowed. "Please, save him!"

Tear folded her arms. "To ignore someone whose Score said a disaster would be averted... It goes against everything the Order stands for."

"You still don't trust Maestro Van?" Luke asked, looking behind him at the first of his two Guardians.

Tear shook her head. "No, I don't trust my brother."

"See? We should go!" Aeden clenched her fists. "I bet we can rescue that engineer _and_ impress Master Van!"

"I doubt that disobeying him will gain his approval, but..." Jade folded his arms. "Does anyone know this Choral Castle?"

"It used to be Duke Fabre's vacation home, up on the coast," Guy explained. "I heard it was abandoned when the front lines of the last war got too close. You should recognize it, Aeden."

Aeden blinked at him. "Huh? Why?"

"Well, that's where they found you and your brother when you were kidnapped. Maybe if we went there, you might remember something."

"Remember... my brother?" The idea gave Aeden pause. On one hand, she hated the very idea of him. He was the Fabre child who should have lived, should have married Natalia and become king, the one wanted by her mother. On the other hand... Nah, there wasn't another hand.

She turned away. "No. I changed my mind. I don't wanna go."

Jade spread his hands. "Too late. It seems the party is leaving with or without you."

She spun around. Jade was right- they _were_ walking away, and were already half-way out the gate. She stomped her foot. "How dare you- _Oooo..._ Wait for me!"

...

Anise looked around the crumbling castle as they walked in through the gate in the outer wall. "Ugh. It looks like the kind of place with lots of ghosts and spiders and stuff. And it's damp too."

"G-g-ghosts aren't real," Tear protested. "D-d-don't be silly!"

Anise grinned as she pushed open the doors with a loud creak. "Oho! Is the high and mighty Fon-Master-Guardian-slash-Intelligence-Division-Sp y afraid of ghosts?"

"I-I'm not afraid of ghosts! And I'm not a sp- eek!" Tear jumped as water dripped on her head, and Anise giggled.

Jade looked around the main hall curiously. "Strange. There are signs of recent activity, but it's supposed to have been abandoned for years..."

Anise poked Tear again, making her squeak, and Guy waved his hands at them. "Now, now. It's not nice to teas- **AH!"**

"Guy, there's a-!" Aeden grabbed onto his shoulders, eyes closed tight in panic, but Guy threw her off. Sitting up, she rubbed her arm. **"**Ow! What was.._._ that for... Are you okay?"

Guy slowly straightened. "Yes. I'm so sorry- I don't know what came over me. My body just reacted on its own."

Jade looked at him, folding his arms. "That... did not seem like a normal reaction or an aversion to females. Are you sure nothing is wrong?"

Guy shook his head. "I don't know. I wasn't like this when I was a kid. All I know is that there's a piece of my memory missing. The cause might be there."

"So, you're missing your memory too?" Aeden asked, and Guy turned to her.

"Are you alright? I'm so sorry-"

Aeden waved her hand. "Really, I'm fine. About your memory, though..."

Guy folded his arms. "No, I don't think it's the same. I'm only missing one memory."

"How do you know that?" Luke asked curiously.

Guy looked down. "I **know.** It's the memory of the day my family died."

Tear and Anise looked shocked. Tear said quietly, "I'm sorry."

"I don't really want to talk about it any more." Guy turned away. "Let's just move on, okay?"

There was a sudden rustle from above and Jade's head snapped up. "Get down!" He shoved Aeden down to the ground, while Tear did the same to Anise. Guy grabbed Ion, but Luke was beyond his reach and a bit late.

A large griffin, the same as they had seen at the Kaitzur Port, swooped down and caught Luke, lifting him out of their reach before any of them could react.

Arietta stood above their heads on the second floor with a second griffin by her side. She stroked its beak as the first flew by, Luke's limp body in its grasp.

Jade climbed to his feet. "We should have been expecting something like this."

Anise stared up at the other little girl. "Hey, I thought we were all friends once! Why are you and the other God-Generals kidnapping big brother Luke?"

"How can you still call him your big brother like that?!" Arietta cried back. "After what he's done-! If you're his friend, you're not _mine,_ mean Anise!"

"I don't-" Anise started, but Arietta was gone. Anise looked at her feet. "'After...' Can she mean the liger queen? Oh, Arietta..."

Guy stood. "I think recovering the Fon Master is what we should be focused on right now, not the God-Generals' motives."

Tear helped Ion to his feet, then readied her staff. "That's right."

"Spread out in pairs," Jade ordered. "Look for anything that looks suspicious. Perhaps we can find where they're working from."

...

It was some time, and several trips up and down the stairs, passing both Anise and Jade's team and Guy and Ion's, before Tear and Aeden found the locked door in the study.

Aeden poked the glowing light in the center of the door's locking mechanism. "Hey, Tear. What's this?"

Tear came over from where she had been examining the desk. "Strange... It's been sealed with special fonons. Something important must be behind it."

"Fon Master!" both exclaimed.

...

Out in the hall, Guy was running from something that was white, wispy, and very fast. It's one eye was also _glowing purple._

Ion panted as he tried to keep up, then his breath caught on the dust that was everywhere and he had to stop, coughs shaking his body.

Realizing that Ion wasn't behind him anymore, Guy stopped and ran back. "Are you alriiiight!" He moved himself between the boy and the thing and closed his eyes, waiting for it to hit them.

"**Sonic Spear!" **

Guy felt a rush of air ruffle his hair as Jade's spear flew through the thing and barely missed his head.

"**Dual Punishment!" **Anise called, and Guy opened his eyes to see the white thing disappearing. Anise hopped off Tokunaga and patted the doll as it shrank back to normal size.

Jade picked up the glowing orb that was all that was left of the white thing. "Hm. Odd to see collected fonons like this..."

Aeden and Tear ran out to the hall to see the cause of the noise.

"Hey isn't that-" Aeden started, and Tear nodded.

"Just like that!" Tear took the orb from Jade. "May I have this?"

Amused in Jade's case, and bemused in Guy and Ion's, they followed the two girls back to the study.

Tear fitted the glowing orb into the locking mechanism. It flashed, then the door opened.


	11. Rescues and Hyperresonance - Chesedonia

**AN: Sorry guys. My family went on vacation last week, so I didn't really write anything while I was gone... But I'm back now! ^_^ ****Apparently if I aim for a chapter every other week, I get one every third week... ^_^"**

**Um, so... I am really resisting the urge to type 'Cheesedonia', which I have called the city multiple times by accident while playing TotA. XD Also, little things thrown in for you guys who've played the game- please see if you can find them. ^_^**

***TALES OF THE ABYSS DOESN'T BELONG TO ME. Please enjoy, and leave a review! ***

* * *

Luke groaned. _Huh? Wha... What happened? Did I hit my head? _He tried to raise a hand to his head, but he found he couldn't move at all. Eyes flickering open and sight clearing, he realized his arms and legs were restrained to keep him from moving. With the whiteness above his face yielding no answers, Luke looked to the side instead.

Through a bluish-green haze, he could see Dist the Reaper fiddling with some sort of control panel.

"Amazing!" the God-General was muttering to himself. "Identical, down to the fonon frequency..."

"He's awake," a familiar hard voice reported, and Luke realized that Sync the Tempest was standing next to his head, watching him. "Hurry it up. We need to erase the data before they come to get him."

"Well, if it's secrecy you wanted, you shouldn't have come to Choral Castle," Dist commented, and Sync spread his hands.

"It was Asch, not me."

Golden yellow fonic letters scrolled by in the haze and lights blinked on and off in a pattern reminiscent of some musical score. Luke felt a tingling feeling spreading up through his body from the tips of his fingers and toes as the pale-haired God-General continued to type rapidly.

"Wha-" Luke croaked, then coughed. "What are you doing to me?"

"Almost..." Dist hit a final key with a flourish. "Done! There you go! His synchronicity fon slots are opened."

"Stop right there!"

Luke had never been so happy to hear Tear's voice before.

"Not a moment too soon." Sync gestured at Dist. "Let's go."

Dist hit something and the haze- no, it was a _status_ _display- _disappeared. He waved to Sync as his chair floated off the ground. "I can't wait to analyze this data. See you later!"

"I'll leave them to Arietta on the roof, then." Sync grabbed a disc about the size of his hand from another console, but Guy jumped between him and his escape route.

"Sorry, but you're not going anywhere."

"Don't get in my way! Just because I'm not allowed to kill you doesn't meant I won't hurt you!" Sync grunted and feinted at Guy, then tried to roll away from him. Catching Sync, Guy brought his sword down, slicing through the God-General's mask.

It fell to the ground and Guy stared in surprise at the face revealed. "You-"

Sync cursed, dropping the disc as he spun and kicked Guy in the head, then, with his hand held up to hide his face, Sync turned and fled.

"Guys!" Luke called.

Anise climbed up next to him, and he smiled at her. "Oh man, am I glad to see you all-"

**_Slap!_**

Cheek stinging, Luke looked back at the girl who had slapped his face. "Anise...?"

"Big brother..." Anise swiped at her face with her sleeve, and Luke suddenly realized her eyes were red and she was sniffing a little. "Stupid big brother... Can't you keep yourself out of trouble? You're so helpless without me around!"

Tear came up to the edge. "Is everything all right? Anise, do you need any help?"

"No!" Anise called back, and began undoing the restraints.

While Tear and Anise worked on freeing Luke, Ion held out a hand to help Guy up.

"Ugh, he really got me." Gratefully accepting Ion's help, Guy kept a hand to the side of his head as he stood.

"Did you... Did you see anything?" Ion asked, a little apprehensively.

Guy winced. "Ask me later. My head's still ringing from that kick."

Jade came up to stand next to them, and Guy followed his gaze. Sitting before them was a huge, hour-glass shaped piece of fon machinery with two round platforms where the sand would be. Where they were standing was some sort of observation catwalk that went around the upper platform that Luke was sitting on and a bit below and off to the side, where Dist had been, was another observation station, this one with several consoles and control panels on it.

Jade's eyebrows drew a little closer together at the sight. "Surely not..."

Guy turned to him. "Colonel, do you know what this is?"

Jade folded his arms. "No. At least... I'm not sure."

"I think this is the first time I've seen you nervous." Guy suddenly frowned, his voice growing quieter. "Does this have something to do with the kidnapping seven years ago?"

"Perhaps." Jade turned away. "But I don't wish to pointlessly speculate on it until we have more concrete evidence. ...What's this?" Jade leant down and picked up the disc. "A fondisk?"

"Sync dropped that when he ran," Guy explained, gingerly touching his head where Sync had kicked him.

"Hm." Jade flipped it over and examined it before putting it away. "We'll have to have the data on it analyzed."

Luke climbed off with help from Tear and Anise. Before he let go of Anise's hand, he squeezed it, making her look up at him in surprise, and he smiled reassuringly.

Anise turned red and looked away.

Luke wobbled slightly as Tear let go, and she grabbed his arm again, making him wince. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine. I'm just a bit dizzy." With her help, Luke sat back down on the edge shakily.

Tear looked him over. "Fon Master, your shoulder."

Luke turned his head to look and wished he hadn't. The griffin's talons had gone all the way through his robes and punctured the skin. The wounds were oozing blood nearly indistinguishable from his crimson robes... except for the smell.

Luke felt sick for the first time. He looked back up and met Aeden's eyes across the room.

Aeden looked away, unable to watch any longer. This place... there was something wrong here- a buzzing in her head that wouldn't leave her be and drained her, leaving her feeling faint and dizzy. Plus, her shoulder ached.

_Must have happened when I got knocked to the floor. Stupid Colonel!_

"Well, should we head for the roof?" When the others stared at him, Jade shook his head. "That's where Sync said Arietta was, correct?"

...

By the time they got to the roof, Luke's wounds had been bandaged up and treated with **First Aid** and Aeden was feeling a bit better, though she couldn't shake the feeling something was wrong.

Jade stopped them with a hand motion. "She's probably waiting up there, so- Aeden, what are you doing?"

"Hurrying this up, old four-eyes!" she snapped over her shoulder as she ran up the stairs. Aeden grabbed Mieu on the way past ("_Mieuuuu?!_") and did a roll as she came out onto the roof, shooting **Mieu Fire** in all directions.

Jade pushed up his glasses. "Did she just...?"

Guy pushed Jade aside. "Never mind that, she's going to get killed!"

As Aeden came out of her roll, she could see Arietta on the far side, the captured engineer at her side, bound and sitting against the wall. One of the two griffins was by her side- the other was nowhere to be seen- and the large liger from the Tartarus was shaking its head in annoyance, scorch marks around its muzzle.

Letting go of Mieu, who floated dizzily down to the ground, Aeden drew her sword. "Hey, you! You've had your fun- give back that engineer!"

"You killed Mommy!" Arietta yelled back, raising her stuffed doll in the air. "You'll pay!"

"Move!" Tear shouted, shoving Aeden aside and raising her staff in the air. "**Force Field!**"

"**Limited!"** Arietta screamed, and a pillar of light hammered Tear's Force Field.

The field held for the duration of Limited, but Arietta gestured for her two monsters to join the fight. As the force field flickered away, Tear grabbed Aeden and dragged her aside.

Stepping forward, Jade threw his hands out in front of him. "**_Oh mighty explosion... _****Energy Blast!"**

Running in under the cloud of dust and smoke, Guy sliced at the liger, cutting a gash in its side. The liger snarled in pain, swiping at Guy and knocking him aside.

Jade pushed his glasses up on his nose and prepared to cast another arte, while Anise joined the fray on Tokunaga.

...

After Arietta's two monsters were taken out, it didn't take very long for a sideways blow from Tokunaga to knock the God-General unconscious.

Jade folded his arms, looking down at Arietta's still body. "I knew letting her live was a mistake." He drew his spear, but Luke stood hastily, trying to get between the girl and Jade.

"Colonel, please-!" He gasped as the sudden movement pulled at his shoulder, and Tear caught his other arm.

"Fon Master, you'll open your wound up again!"

Ion came over and looked down at Arietta a bit sadly, then up at Jade. "Colonel, we should take her back to the Order."

"But how are you going to explain her crimes?" Guy asked.

"Put your weapon away. I will take her and make sure she is properly punished for what she's done."

Everyone turned at Van's voice. The Oracle Knights Commandant climbed up onto the roof, then crossed to Arietta's body. He scooped her up in his arms like the little child she really was, then looked at Jade.

There was silence for a moment, then Jade put his spear away. "Very well."

Guy folded his arms. "How did you know we were here?"

Van turned to survey the group. "I did not receive any notice that the Fon Master had arrived in Kaitzur, and I grew worried. I see now I was right to be concerned. I have a coach ready to return. I wish that you would join me, Aeden, Fon Master..."

Luke looked at Aeden, who was looking down at the ground, red-faced and silent, then back at Van. "I want to stay here a little longer. There's something I want to look at."

Van sighed. "Very well, Fon Master. But I expect you all back at the port soon."

...

"I don't get it," Aeden said to Luke as they came down the stairs. "Why'd you want to stay in a place like this?"

Luke smiled. "I wanted to help you, if I could. I heard this is where they found you, right?"

"Yeah, well..." As they walked back out into the entrance hall, Aeden noticed a large dark brown stain both on the tiles and soaked into the carpet. She stopped, and Guy nearly bumped into her. Nearly, because he hastily backpedaled and almost knocked Anise down instead.

"Aeden, what's wrong?" Luke asked, but his voice suddenly sounded far away to Aeden. Her heart pounded in her ears, drowning out the other sounds of the world.

_The cold stone pressed against her cheek. Still warm fluid ran down her face and pooled around her body, fluid the same color as the strands of hair that fell about her eyes. She didn't have any words to explain what was happening around her._

_Something big leaned down, blocking out the light._

Luke reached out to touch Aeden's shoulder, but she shook her head to clear it and turned away from him.

"Let's go," she said shortly. "I don't think there's anything else to find."

Jade came up behind them, dusting off his hands. "I agree. We should get moving."

...

That night, Jade took the first watch (_"Just because we defeated Arietta doesn't mean we should let our guard down."_) and the others pulled out bedrolls and found places around the fire. Aeden, Ion and Luke were the first to fall asleep, which suited Jade just fine.

He turned to Guy. "Could you tell me anything more about Aeden's kidnapping? She seems reluctant to discuss it except to blame Malkuth."

Guy sighed, looking into the fire. "Seven years ago, Aeden and her twin brother were kidnapped. I was friends with her brother, so I paid attention to the search. Aeden was found here in Choral Castle with no memory of her life or family before. She couldn't even remember how to speak."

Tear put her bedroll down, coming to the fire. "And her brother?"

"He was declared dead," Guy said shortly. "When the search party found her... well, there was a lot of blood. No one could lose that much blood and live, not for long anyway, and Aeden was uninjured, except for her memory loss... It was thought they tried to escape but were caught. The kidnappers got rid of the body afterward."

Jade frowned. "But that doesn't make any sense..."

Guy shrugged. "What else could have happened? I was a kid too at the time, so I didn't understand it all, but in the end tests apparently said the blood fonons matched the two of them. In any case, Aeden doesn't like to talk about it, and the King hushed the whole incident up, so please don't mention what I told you around her."

Tear looked like she was about to say something, but Jade smiled and patted the two on the shoulder. "Well, I think it's time for you youngsters to go to bed. Leave all this to the old man."

...

Walking into Kaitzur Port, Aeden was not looking forward to facing Master Van again. She had directly disobeyed him, and it had been pretty clear he was disappointed in her.

Next to her, Luke rubbed his sore shoulder and stared at his feet as he walked.

Anise squeezed his hand and he looked down at her. "Don't worry," she whispered. "I'm sure Commandant Grants understands why we went after the crew chief now. After all, he's pledged to uphold the Score too, right?"

"Yeah, but still... He said he'd take care of it."

A black haired man in an engineer's uniform came running up to them and bowed deeply to the group. "Thank you so much! I owe you all a debt that I can't repay."

It took Luke a moment to recognize the man, then he realized that it was the kidnapped crew chief. Luke waved his hand awkwardly, embarrassed. "That really isn't necessary..."

The man bowed again. "As a thank you, my crew and I spent all night working to repair the ferry. We hope you have a safe journey from here on."

Tear stepped forward. "It was our pleasure to do our duty as followers of Lorelei."

The man smiled, then ran off again to deal with some last minute cargo loading.

Van was standing by the gangplank watching the crew load the last of the cargo, then turned when he saw the party. "Ah, there you are."

As they got closer, he smiled at the looks on Luke and Aeden's faces. "Don't worry, I'm not upset anymore. I heard the story from the maintenance crew. Let's get going."

...

The newly-repaired ferry taxied out of the harbor, its twin propellers starting slow, then gathering speed as they caught the fresh sea air.

Luke stood on the deck, enjoying the sea breeze as it blew through his hair, tangling it with the tassels in his headdress hopelessly. Someone pulled on his sleeve as they stumbled, and he looked down to see Ion, looking even paler than usual, with dark circles under his eyes.

_Has he been getting enough rest with all this traveling?_

"Hey, Ion, you don't look so good. Maybe you should go take a rest below decks."

"No," Ion managed. "Really, I'm fine." Rubbing his eyes, he nearly fell again, the slight rocking of the ship nearly making him stumble.

Luke sighed, trying to think of another way to phrase, "_Seriously, you need to go sit somewhere before you keel over,_" when Tear came up behind them.

"Ion," she said, "could you please go check on Arietta? I think my brother's keeping her asleep until we get back. Perhaps you could stay in Luke's room afterward."

Humming softly, she placed her hand on his head and her hand glowed for a second. Looking even sleepier, Ion nodded and headed off.

Luke leaned against the rail. "Wow, I didn't know you could do that until this trip."

"His body's not used to traveling, but if he really goes to sleep, by the time we get to Chesedonia he should be fine." Tear looked over at Luke. "I wanted to apologize, Fon Master."

"For what?"

"My brother was right. I abandoned my duties under false pretenses and, no matter my reasons, that was not acceptable. I also plan to apologize to Aeden's parents for involving her when we arrive in Baticul." Turning, Tear saw Van coming up from below decks, Aeden tagging along close behind.

Luke followed Tear's gaze. "Tear, you asked for time off and I gave you permission to leave. Don't feel like the whole thing was your fault."

Tear didn't answer.

...

Van turned to Aeden. "I need to take care of some things. Can you stay out of trouble by yourself?... Ah, hold on." Catching sight of Guy as he walked by, Van gestured for him to join them. Obligingly, Guy did.

"Can I trust you," Van put his hands on Aeden's shoulders, "to take care of her?"

Guy shook his head. "I would but-" The ferry hit a little rough wave and Guy turned green. "Sorry!" he gasped, heading to the rail as fast as he could. The sea green of the rocking waves didn't help him any though.

"I can keep an eye on her," Tear said quietly, coming over, and Van looked at her for a moment.

"Very well. I'm putting my trust in you." He headed off.

Tear took Aeden's arm, drawing her away gently. "Aeden, can I talk to you for a moment?"

"Uh... Yeah, I guess." Aeden followed Tear to the rail.

"I've been meaning to ask you about something," Tear began.

Aeden leaned back against the rail, resting her arms on it. "Yeah...? What?"

Tear looked up at the sky. "My brother... do you care for him?"

Aeden's face turned red and she stuttered, "Wh-wh-what are you talking about?"

Tear sighed, and Aeden felt her face grow even hotter as she turned to face out towards the ocean. "Wh-why are you-"

Tear raised a hand. "It's okay. You don't need to tell me what you think."

Aeden hung her head, the ocean spray cooling her face. "Tear," she said softly after a minute. "Tear, he's always been kind to me, always been there for me. He's never looked at me with pity, or wished I was my brother, never thought, 'Oh, it's a shame that the boy didn't live,' when he looked at me."

Tear stared at the other girl in shock. "But your family-"

"They think it!" Aeden snapped back, then realized she was yelling and lowered her voice. "They do. I can see it in their eyes- especially my father's. I'm female, so I can't carry on the Fabre name. I can't marry Natalia and rule Kimlasca. I'm just the worthless girl who lived when her brother died."

She closed her hands, looking down at the sea. "So yeah, he's really special to me."

Tear looked out at the water, a bit sadly. "Aeden, you shouldn't get close to him. You'll only get hurt." _Why has he spent more time with this girl than his own sister?_

Aeden turned back to Tear, clenching the rail. "Why? Does it have anything to do with _his own sister_ trying to murder him? Yeah, that took your credibility down a bit. He said it was a misunderstanding; why won't you believe him?"

"My brother is planning something terrible." Tear's hands tightened into fists. "Maybe the God-Generals were, but _that_ wasn't a misunderstanding."

Aeden glared over at her. "Yeah, but I bet you won't tell me what it is you think he's doing. You know what I think? I think you're jealous. I think you're jealous that your brother's found someone else to replace his murderous sister."

_Am I? _Tear caught Aeden's arm. "Please, listen to me. He _is_ dangerous."

"I'm done here." Aeden yanked her arm away from Tear and walked away.

...

That night, Luke couldn't sleep. They were close to Chesedonia- they would probably arrive the next morning- and soon they would have to take another ferry to the capital itself. But it wasn't that that was bothering him, no. It was something else, some nagging unease that something was not quite as it was.

Quietly, he got out of his bunk, making sure not to wake Ion who was sleeping in the other bunk across the room. The boy had been sleeping ever since Tear had sent him below earlier in the afternoon.

Luke made his way up to the deck where he had spent the afternoon. As he pushed open the hatch, he slowed. _Is there... someone up there?_

Luke pushed it open the rest of the way even more softly and stepped out onto the deck.

Silhouetted against the bright moon was a girl with blood-red hair that reached to her waist blowing gently in the wind, the gold and leather bands that had kept her hair restrained lying on the deck next to her feet. She was facing away from him, but he could tell she had her face buried in her hands.

He took a wrong step and the floor creaked under his feet. She spun, half-drawing her sword from its sheath. "Who's there?! Come out, or I swear-"

Luke stepped out of the shadows. "It's just me, Aeden."

"Fon Ma- I mean, Luke." Putting her sword back, she swiped an arm across her face. "I didn't know you were still awake."

"I couldn't sleep." He walked over to stand next to her. "What about you?"

"Bad dreams," she muttered, looking away.

"You know, a few years ago, I used to have bad dreams a lot, though I could never remember what they were about." Luke tapped Aeden's shoulder, turning her back towards him. "My mother- I mean, Pamela- would always come and hold my hand until I fell asleep again." He held out his hand. "Is it okay for me to hold yours?"

Hesitantly, Aeden took his hand. "She sounds nice," she said quietly. "My mother never did anything like that, at least that I can remember. Sometimes my cousin would stay over, and there's Guy, I guess, but..."

Luke watched her head sink down, and hastily tried to change the subject. "Hey, let's not talk about depressing things like that. Did you ever do anything fun with your cousin?"

Aeden looked up at the sky, thinking. "Hm... Well, not so much with her, but Guy's been a close friend of mine for a long time." She smiled. "Somehow he always finds me, no matter where I'm hiding in the manor grounds. And there was this one time the maids were doing the wash..."

Luke laughed with Aeden as she brightened as she finished the story about the time Guy had slipped while running from one of the maids and fallen into one of Pere's newly fertilized flower beds.

"Hah hah..." Luke looked out over the water. "It's been a long time since I've spent time alone with someone like this. It's nice. You know, this trip was my first time seeing the ocean."

"Really? But I thought you were the Fon Master."

Luke looked at Aeden. "Yeah, well, I haven't been out of Daath before. It's only been two years since I became Fon Master, and well, my family didn't travel much. I mean, I was happy, I guess, since I didn't know what I was missing, and until I was chosen, I could wander the streets as well."

"Lucky," Aeden muttered. "My family won't let me leave the manor."

Luke squeezed her hand. "Well, you're here now, ri-"

**_"Hey you. Yeah you dreck."_**

Luke winced in pain, bringing his hands up to his ears. "Wh-what's that?"

Aeden shuddered as the hard voice ripped through her head. "I don't know, but it hurts!"

**_"Show me your power like mine!"_**

As first Luke, then Aeden began to glow with a golden light, Luke screamed, falling to his knees, while Aeden stumbled backward.

"Wh-what's going on?" she gasped through the pain. "My hands-!"

"Someone- help-" Luke collapsed with arms half extended, his eyes flickering closed, but it was too late. The process had been begun already.

Unable to move or look away, Aeden watched as her hands, glowing even stronger now as Luke faded, raised themselves, hands about shoulder distance apart and palms facing out. "Help!" she wanted to scream, but she didn't have control of her body any longer.

A brilliant beam of light shot from her hands. When it faded, she could see with horror that it had apparently cut a perfect circle with a diameter almost as high as her waist in the rail.

**_"Nice for a Fon Master who never practices. Let's see another one."_**

Luke's body flared with gold light again and Aeden felt her hands move again, a strange power rushing into her. Her breathing and heartbeat grew faster as panic welled up in her. Something was pushing her body to its limits and beyond.

"He...lp..." she managed, sounding strangled as her vision started to go black. "Some...one..."

"Aeden! Aeden can you hear me?"

_Master!_

Large hands took hers as a strong, safe warmth wrapped his arms around her_. _"Aeden, focus on the tips of your fingers. Calm down. I've got you. You're safe."

She did, and the pain and pressure faded. Aeden opened her eyes slowly. Van was right behind her, his arms wrapped around hers, his hands holding hers.

She looked up at him and he smiled. "Good. You're all right."

Aeden sniffed and turned to bury her face in his tunic. "It was so scary, Master! I couldn't move or speak or anything!"

Van brushed her hair with his hand. "Shh, it's all right now. You're all right now." Bending down, he held her upper arm, tilting her face up with the other hand. "Now, just listen to my voice for a moment, I'll make sure this doesn't happen again..."

Vision fuzzy, Aeden felt his thumb wipe away her tears, then his large hand came down and rested across her face. She lost consciousness.

...

"Aeden... Aeden, wake up."

Aeden opened her eyes blearily. She was resting with her head against Van's shoulder. He stepped back, helping her stand.

"You blacked out for a moment," he explained. "How are you feeling?"

"Ugh... My head feels like it's going to explode..." She looked up at him in a panic. "But what happened?" She caught sight of the hole in the rail. "I... Did I do that?"

Kneeling to check Luke's heartbeat, and apparently satisfied that Luke was merely unconscious and not dead, Van joined Aeden by the new gap in the rail. He put his hand on one of the perfectly smooth edges. "That was a hyperresonance, usually created between two Seventh Fonists. Have you ever wondered why you are confined to the manor grounds, Aeden?"

"Because of the kidnapping," she answered, and Van shook his head.

"That is only part of the reason. You and your brother are the only humans capable of creating a hyperresonance by yourself, and with your brother's death you became the _only_ human in the world with that ability."

"But what _is_ a hyper-hyperresonance? Why's that so important?" Aeden asked, staring at the hole.

Van ran his hand along the hole. "Hyperresonance is caused by a reaction between two Seventh Fonons and can disassemble then reassemble any matter and its fonons. If they could somehow harness its power on the battlefield... Kimlasca's armies would be able to wreak unimaginable destruction."

"Are you saying... are you saying I'm a weapon?!" Aeden was horror-filled at the thought. "My Uncle's been keeping me trapped so I can be used as a weapon of war? But I don't want to fight in _any_ war!"

"And isn't that why you're here, with the Fon Master? To stop the war?" Van put his hand on her shoulder. "You'll be a hero for helping the Fon Master. They won't be able to keep you confined then, will they?"

Aeden's eyes got bigger. "Me... A hero? You really think so?"

Van nodded. "You'll finally be recognized as what I know you can be: a lovely, strong, and determined young woman. The young woman who stopped the war."

Aeden clenched her fists. "I promise I won't let you down!"

"There's a good girl." Van ruffled her hair. "Now, how about we start with returning the Fon Master to his room. It wouldn't do for him to catch a cold."

...

**SKIT: Water vs Guy**

**Aeden: Um... Guy, you know you could ask Tear to help with that.**

**Guy: *urp* No, I'll be fine. I... just haven't been on a ship for a while.**

**Aeden: Aren't you like, water rescue trained? How can you get seasick?**

**Guy: Really, I'll be fine in a little bit... Just need to get used to it again... 'scuse me...!**

**...**

Chesedonia was a bustling port and trading city that sat on the desert border between Kimlasca and Malkuth. People from all over the world bustled back and forth between the shops and merchants, buying and selling and occasionally hiding from the sandstorms that blew through every once in a while.

Van left the party just upon entering the city.

"I need to leave Arietta with the inspector here."

"But Maestro-!" Luke started. "I thought you were coming with us?" Luke had awakened that morning sore all over on top of an incredible headache and a sense that something had happened the previous night, but he still hadn't quite remembered what.

"I'll just be taking another way back to Baticul. Don't worry, I won't leave you or Aeden yet."

Van looked at Tear. "Tear, please take care of both of them. I hope I can trust you to not abandon your duties."

"Nosir," she answered, subdued.

"Good." He turned to Aeden and Luke. "Now, the ship is waiting for you at the consulate on the Kimlasca side. Don't get so distracted that you forget to get on the ship."

"Of course not, Master Van!" Aeden nodded fervently.

Van nodded as a final goodbye and left with some guards, still carrying Arietta's sleeping body.

Jade folded his arms. "I have something I want to do while we're here, so why don't you all explore the marketplace? They have some particularly good wares here."

"Perhaps we can get some more food," Tear said thoughtfully, and Aeden groaned.

"Can we get some _different _food? I'm sick of rice balls."

"If we see any..."

A tall woman in a revealing magenta dress bumped into Aeden and Luke as she walked between the two of them. "Oh, excuse me," she said, and continued walking.

"Hmph. Rude!" Aeden muttered, but Tear stepped in front of the woman.

"Give it back," Tear demanded softly.

The woman laughed. "Give what back, dearie?"

"Don't play dumb. Give back what you just stole."

Aeden reached into her pocket. "Hey, where's my Gald?!"

Luke felt his pockets, then remembered that he hadn't been carrying anything.

The woman sighed, pulling out the leather bag. "So you're not all naive chumps after all." She looked to the side. "York, take this. Urushi, let's get out of here."

She tossed the bag to a tall man with both a tricorn hat and a small rodent on his head, and joined, on the other side of the street, a short man with diamond tattoo on his face and the trio then scattered.

Tear ran after the tall man, York, and pinned his coat to the ground with her throwing knife.

Tear pointed her other knife at him. "Hand it over and I'll let you go unharmed."

York ungraciously handed her the bag, then ran to join his two compatriots on a nearby rooftop.

"You've got guts, making enemies of the Dark Wings," he threatened, then the trio was gone.

Tear walked back to rejoin the party and passed Aeden the bag. "Here you go."

Aeden folded her arms. "Those were the Dark Wings? If I had known that, I would've given them a piece of my mind!"

"And you did such a good job protecting your money..." Tear turned to Jade. "Colonel, why did you just stand there and let her do that?"

Jade shrugged. "Oh dear, you got me. I thought it would be amusing."

Aeden turned to him. "Hey!"

"Well, if there are no more misadventures to be had, I'll be off now." Jade turned away.

"Where are you going, Colonel?" Luke asked curiously.

Jade looked back over his shoulder. "To see someone who has access to ways to analyze this fon disc Guy found. Don't worry, I'll tell you all about it afterwards." He waved bye as he walked off. "I'll meet you at the bar in an hour or two and then we can leave. Use this time to explore and shop! This is the **Center of Trade**, you know!"

"He is way too happy," Aeden muttered, and Guy shook his head, sighing.

Guy turned back to the group. "Well, considering what just happened, I think we should stay in pairs."

Tear nodded. "Fon Master, would you mind staying with me? I'd rather you not get into trouble again."

"Sure, Tear." Luke looked down at Anise. "Anise, would you mind keeping an eye on Ion for me?"

The young Fon Master Guardian looked at Ion, then sighed. "All right..."

"I guess that means me and you, Guy." Aeden and Guy sighed at the same time.

"We'll meet up at the bar in an hour, all right? It's not hard to find."

Everyone nodded their assent and the three groups went their separate ways.

...

Tear and Luke headed off down a side path. As they were walking, a man stopped them.

"Hey, I just wanted to thank you," the coachman from Engave said. "I couldn't get back home after the bridge was blown up, but after selling that jewel you gave me, I had more than enough to pay for a boat from Grand Chokmah."

"You sold it...? Oh..." Tear rubbed her arm.

As the man walked on, Luke looked over at her. "What was he talking about?"

"It's nothing. Don't worry about it."

...

Aeden held the sandy and slightly sticky piece of paper away from her body. "I still don't get why we gave him an Apple Gel," she complained.

Guy laughed sheepishly. "Well, at least he gave you that recipe for Fried Chicken."

She shook the paper, trying to get the sand off, but the brown sand just _wouldn't_ come off. "It's all gross though..."

Guy took the paper away from her, taking the farthest end from her fingers, and folded it up and put it in his pocket. "It's not like we're eating the paper, Aeden."

...

"Hey look at this!" Anise stood in front of the bar. A sign, dead center in front of the bar, indicated the border between the Kimlasca and Malkuth. "I have one foot in one country and one in the other! Now I'm in Kimlasca, now I'm in Malkuth! Now I'm in Kimlasca, now I'm in Malkuth..."

Ion peered at the sign, then straightened. "The border runs straight through this city," he commented softly. "But Astor and the Merchants Guild have fought hard to make sure that Chesedonia is recognized as a autonomous entity in order to facilitate trade, much like Daath. Daath also helps enforce that autonomy."

Anise came over to stand next to him. "Wow, you sure know a lot."

Ion looked at his feet. "I spent much of my early life reading in the library."

Anise patted him on the back, almost making him fall. "You know, you're not so bad for a little assistant. I'm actually having fun... and learning things! 3 Won't Mama be proud..."

...

Jade picked up the disk and his notes, making sure to wipe all records of what he had been reading off the machine's memory. There was no need to get Astor involved in this.

He turned the disk over in his hand. "Someday..." he said quietly. "Someday, Luke and Aeden, you may grow to hate me..."

...

Luke and Tear were first to show up at the bar, though Ion and Anise had been waiting there for them. Anise had tried to order first a beer, then milk in the bar, but the pair had been kicked out once the proprietor realized the two kids had no money on them.

Aeden and Guy joined them next. Guy passed the recipe on to Tear, who at some point had become the designated cook, while Aeden complained to anyone that would listen about the sand in her shoes.

Jade, predictably, was the last to arrive.

"Well, does everyone have everything they need?" he asked. The party nodded.

"What did you find out about that disk?" Guy asked, and Jade simply passed him the disk and notes.

"I've already memorized the contents, but I'd rather wait until we were onboard the ship to discuss it."

Guy nodded. "Fair enough- hey, wait, why'd you give it to me then?"

Jade shrugged and put his hands in his pockets. "The Kimlasca consulate is this way- Come along, children!"

A Kimlascan soldier was waiting for them at the docks. He bowed. "Lady Aeden, Fon Master. The ship is all ready to leave at your-"

Tear's head suddenly whipped around. "Look out!"

Sync the Tempest leapt down from above, landing behind them. "Hand that over!" he snapped, slicing Guy's upper arm and causing the disk to go flying. An evil-looking purple glyph glowed for a second over the wound, making Guy's arm go numb for a second, then Guy scooped up the notes, and scrambled to his feet.

"They followed us! Run!" he yelled.


	12. Robots and Homecomings - Baticul

**AN: Man... Has it really been a month since my last update? If you guys are still here, thank you so much for putting up with me! ^_^**

**Windsbane: Thanks! I'm glad someone noticed the not-incredibly-subtle-hints. XD I'm hoping to make Aeden more of a character than just a replacement for Luke too, but...**

**Sakura117 & WolfMoon: Hey guys! Have some thanks cookies! *tosses cookies at readers***

**Ahem. Well, writing Dist's parts was... interesting. He is so waaaay far outside my comfort zone as a writer... I'm also going to admit I borrowed from the game's dialogue in several parts. (Honestly, though, can you get better than "duplicitous snake" and "super-ultra-****_gorgeous_**** artes"? Dist's lines are so hilarious...)**

**Has anyone else noticed that General Jozette Cecille is the ****_only _****female military officer ever mentioned/seen outside of the Oracle Knights? ...and she has quite the backstory if you look up her tag on Tales of Translations (which we may or may not go into here).**

***TALES OF THE ABYSS DOESN'T BELONG TO ME. Please enjoy, and leave a review! ***

* * *

Sync swore softly and slowed to a stop as he watched the ship's twin propellers spin and catch the air, out of his reach. He folded his arms.

Dist floated up behind him. "Well, what we going to do now? They got away!"

Sync shook his head, turning back to Dist. "I got the blond one with a curse slot. He'll do what I want now. And besides, I got the disc back, even if I didn't get the notes."

"That Jade..." Dist muttered. "So sneaky... How dare they get away from ME- the great and-" The God-General stopped suddenly, realizing Sync was half-way around the corner and walking away. "I'm not finished yet, you!" Dist complained. "Youngsters these days...!"

...

Luke fell against the rail, gasping. "We made it."

Aeden took off her shoe and poured a pile of golden sand onto the deck. "I told you so," she muttered, and the sea breeze picked the sand up, making Ion sneeze.

She looked up at Guy. "Did Sync get you?"

Guy examined his upper arm where Sync had slashed his sleeve. "I guess I'm lucky. Looks like he missed." Guy rubbed his arm. "It was close though."

Tear sighed. "We all made it..." She straightened. "Where's the Colonel?"

Mieu flew in a circle. "I don't see him anywhere, mieu! Did we leave him behind?"

Jade was nowhere to be found on deck.

"I don't see him back on the dock," Luke said, leaning over the rail to see better.

"Fon Master!" Tear caught the collar of Luke's tunic and pulled him back, terrified he would fall. Her tug came at the same time as a wave rocked the ferry and both lost their balance, falling backward onto the hard deck.

Luke blinked, surprised by how close his face was to Tear's. _Whoa. Her eyes are really blue, just like Maestro Van's. How come I didn't notice that?_

Tear winced. "Fon Master, please," she managed, and suddenly Luke realized he was lying on top of her, making it hard for her to breathe.

"Are you two enjoying yourselves?" an amused voice said, and the whole group turned to see Jade coming up from below deck.

Luke hurriedly got up and offered a hand to Tear. "Sorry, I didn't mean to squash you."

Without looking at Luke, Tear climbed to her feet. "It's fine," she said.

"Aw, Tear's blushing!" Anise grinned.

"N-no, I'm not!"

"Mieu! We thought we'd left you behind," Mieu said, flying over to Jade.

The Malkuth Colonel smiled at Mieu. "Oh really? I wonder which of them was worried..."

"Well, I wasn't," Aeden muttered.

Jade turned his smile on her. "Of course you weren't."

Guy folded his arms. "Hey. When are you going to tell us what was on that fon disk?"

"Let's go below decks," Jade answered, suddenly serious. "You can all sit, and I'll explain."

...

The group found spots to sit or stand around the cabin and Jade took a seat where he could see everyone.

"That disk contained research data- specifically research into isofons."

Aeden grimaced, irritated. Another concept she didn't know. Well, whatever. This didn't affect her anyway. She folded her arms, planning to ignore the rest of the conversation, but Luke interrupted.

"What's an isofon?" he asked. "I feel like I might have heard it somewhere, but..."

Jade looked at him. "As you may or may not know, all matter has its own unique frequency. Isofons are objects that have the exact same fonon frequency, but they don't exist in nature, or else hyperresonances would be common. They can only be made artificially."

"Wasn't there some technology that could create isofons?" Anise asked, and Ion looked at her.

"You mean fomicry," Jade said finally. "No, it can't. Any replica made through fomicry would only be an imitation or inferior copy of the original. It would also have its own fonon frequency."

Luke rubbed his head. "But if isofons are so difficult to create, why would someone be researching them?"

"Isofons have possible military uses," Guy answered grimly. "Like hyperresonance."

_Should I tell them? _Aeden almost opened her mouth to say something, then she changed her mind.

There was a dark moment of silence, then Tear turned to Jade. "Was there anything else in there?"

"3.14159265359..." When the others just stared at him, Jade shook his head. "Lorelei's fonon frequency. They were conducting some sort of research into it as well."

"Lorelei, huh..." Guy looked up, thinking. "Isn't that name for the Seventh Fonon?"

Jade nodded. "The aggregate sentience of the Seventh Fonon to be exact."

"Hold on. The _what_ now?" Aeden shook her head. "I sat through the rest of that, but now you're just making stuff up."

Anise looked at her sideways. "Um... It's true. When a large enough group of fonons of the same kind collect, they become sentient. If you can control that, you can pull off really high level artes."

"But Lorelei's existence is only hypothetical," Jade finished. "No one's actually observed it yet."

"Don't you know this kind of stuff?" Anise asked.

"What? No, why would I know stuff like that?!" Aeden snapped back, and Guy looked embarrassed.

"Actually, it's common knowledge."

Aeden's face turned as bright red as her hair, and Luke patted her shoulder awkwardly.

"It's okay, I didn't know some of that either."

Jade looked over at him. "Really, Fon Master?"

Luke looked uncomfortable. "Well, I really only learned what Maestro Mohs or Maestro Van considered necessary to running the Order, and that's been a lot by itself."

Jade's response to that was left unsaid as an explosion shook the cabin and one of the bridge crew burst in.

"Sir!" she gasped. "Sir, a group of unknown fontech signatures is approaching from Chesedonia at high speed!"

Tear stood. "Are they after the Fon Master again?"

Jade shrugged, picking up the papers. "Let's find out."

...

Aeden nearly fell as they ran out onto the deck.

"Why... is... the... stupid ship... rocking so much?!" she snapped, grabbing the nearest person's arm to steady herself.

"Aeden!" Guy squeaked, helplessly flailing until Aeden let go.

Something about waist height sped by, whirring, "CANNOT COMPLY. CANNOT COMPLY."

"Get back here!" a crew member yelled, running up.

Luke turned to the crew member. "What's going on?"

The crew member pointed to the robot motoring its way towards the stern. "That robot stole the fonstone fragment we were bringing back to Baticul! We have to get it back!"

"MUST RECOVER FONSTONE. FOR SCIENCE," the robot buzzed, and Jade sighed.

"Well, we had better get that back. And judging from the tacky design of that robot, I have a good idea who'll be waiting for us at the stern."

"So you recognize it, Colonel?" Tear asked as the party ran after the robot.

"Unfortunately, yes." Jade shook his head and drew his spear. "**Sonic Spear!**"

The spear ricocheted off the robot's head, and Jade grabbed the spear before it could tumble into the water. The robot buzzed and kept going, halting only when it reached the stern deck.

"I see he's gotten smarter. But really. Fontech in the middle of all this water?" Jade stopped running and raised his hand. "**_Oh violent torrent... _****Splash!**"

A glyph appeared above the robot's head, dumping a torrent of water on it and shorting the unfortunate machine out.

"Thank you sirs!" The crew member picked up the fonstone fragment, then headed off, presumably to put it in a safer location.

Guy poked the remains of the robot. "I see! I wouldn't have thought of it that way. Of course fontech would be weakest to water..."

Jade didn't answer, instead looking out at the sea. "I know you're there. Come out, or I'll make you," he called, not quite shouting, but in a voice loud enough that he was sure to be heard anywhere nearby.

"How did you- Augh!"

Everyone except for Jade turned around. Floating above their heads in a hovering armchair was the God-General Dist, his face turning red as he spluttered in annoyance.

"You- You-"

Jade turned. "Now, now. Careful, your nose runs when you get too angry."

"It does **_not!_**" Dist snapped back, reflexively hiding the accused proboscis with a white gloved hand. Realizing what he had just done, he pounded his fists on the arms of his chair, then dropped them and took a deep breath.

"Now, allow me to introduce myself properly," he said. "I am the great, the magnificent, the beautiful, the wonderful-"

"The humble," Anise muttered, and Dist glared at her before continuing.

"-the _wonderful __**genius,**_Dist the-"

"Runny," Jade cheerfully finished for him.

Dist shot _him _a glare that would have killed a lesser man. "Rose! R-O-S-E, Rose!"

"Dist the Reaper, you mean." Anise shot Dist a stare of her own, as if daring him to defy her.

Dist flailed in his chair, bringing his fists down on the arms several times before he could get his objections out. "Why do you people insist on calling someone as beautiful as me a Reaper? This is incredibly unfair!"

Tear looked at Jade and Anise. "You two know one of the Six God-Generals?"

Anise shrugged. "Well, yeah. He's in the Oracle Knights too. He eats in the mess hall with all the other soldiers. But you _never_ eat with us in the mess hall, so you wouldn't have seen him." Her last words were laced with something hard and biting, but Tear pretended not to notice.

Anise looked over her shoulder at Jade. "I don't know how the Colonel knows him though..."

"I once counted that duplicitous snake _Jade," _Dist pointed at the offending Colonel,"among my friends."

Jade simply shook his head, raising his hands. "Which Jade would that be? I don't remember knowing any Jades with such bad taste."

"What is this, some sort of weird reunion?" Aeden muttered, and next to her, Guy sighed.

"They're off in their own little world..."

"Gah! I didn't come here to be insulted by the likes of you, Jade! Hand over the fondisk data now!"

"Oh, you mean this?" Jade held up the sheaf of notes, and Dist swiped it out of his hand.

"Haha!"

Jade shrugged. "Those were just notes. I already memorized all the data that was on that disk."

Dist crumpled up the paper angrily, throwing it to the ground. "You-!"

"Ahah. Your nose," Jade reminded him, and Anise had to hide a giggle as Dist went through several different shades reminiscent of a certain flower.

His face a furious crimson, Dist glared down at them. "Savages! I'm being mocked by savages! Well, prepare to taste my super ultra _gorgeous_ artes! **Kaiser Dist R**, go!"

Suddenly, a huge fontech robot jumped down onto the deck, shaking the ferry and forcing everyone but Jade to scatter.

Anise pulled Tokunaga off her back, the doll growing in her hands. "He does know it's not polite to call _himself _beautiful, right?"

Jade shrugged, backing up to a safe distance for casting artes. "He may, though I doubt he cares if he makes a fool of himself. He does it often enough."

Anise shook her head from atop Tokunaga. "Ooo that's _harsh,_ Colonel. "

Tear slid to a stop next to Luke, putting out an arm in front of him. "Fon Master, please stay here with Ion."

"But Tear-"

"Stay here!" Tear ordered, jumping back into battle.

"Hyaa!"Guy yelled, rolling under the robot's body and driving his sword up into its mechanical innards. Unfortunately, Jade chose that moment to unleash Splash, the glyph dumping a icy torrent on both the robot and manservant.

Guy ungracefully slid out from under the Kaiser Dist, soaking wet and nursing a bruised arm and head from where he had been slammed into the robot's legs. He shot Jade an annoyed look, but the Colonel either didn't notice or didn't care, raising his hand to cast another arte.

"**_Oh mighty explosion... _****Energy Blast!"**

Anise looked at the mess that Guy and Jade had created and shook her head, leaning forward as Tokunaga ran towards the robot. "**Dual Punishment!" **she cried as Tokunaga spun in a circle, hitting whatever was in range- including Guy who had been trying to scramble out of the way on the slippery deck.

Running up from the other side, Aeden swung her sword around in a crescent arc, but it just slid off the robot's wrist guard with a screech that set her teeth on edge. The Kaiser Dist spun its arms, sending Aeden flying, and she hit the rail next to Luke with a _crack!_

Luke knelt next to her. "Whoa, that didn't sound good. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine!" Aeden snapped. She tried to stand, but fell to her knees again, the pain stabbing into her side telling her that something important had been broken. Fighting back tears of pain,Aeden cursed loudly, using words she had learned from some of the White Knights. "I... can't... get knocked out of the battle now! Master Van-!"

Without touching Aeden, Ion ran a green glowing hand down her side. "Please don't move. I believe one of your ribs is broken."

Luke looked at him. "You can use the Seventh Fonon too? Can you heal her?"

Ion shook his head. "No. Something like that's beyond my skills. I can do simple things- nothing more."

"Let me up!" Aeden struggled, but Luke took her shoulder, holding her tight.

"Aeden, you can't fight anymore, and we can't heal you until Tear's done. Please don't make us knock you out."

Aeden tried to get up anyway, but again pain stabbed into her side and she went pale. "Just... heal me... like you did Tear... back in the Cheagle Woods."

Luke bit his lip. "I can't," he mumbled. "I don't have the training or the stamina for powerful artes for injuries like yours. I'm sorry."

"Fon Master!" Tear cried from the battlefield. "Look out!"

Luke looked up to see a stray blast from the Kaiser Dist R heading straight for Ion and Aeden.

"No!" Before he could think, Luke raised his hands and a glyph appeared in front of them. A surge of fonic power rushed through him, stronger than anything Luke had felt before and the glyph glowed brightly, reflecting the beam back. It slammed into the robot, adding to the spiderweb of cracks running through its armor, while the kickback knocked Luke to the deck, where he sat, stunned.

Aeden stared at him, sweat beading on her brow as she fought the pain. "I thought... you said... you couldn't use powerful artes."

Luke looked at his hands like he had just realized they belonged to someone else. "I _can't, _I mean, I've never been able to do that before. I don't know where it came from."

"Time to end this." On the other side, Jade raised a hand, then pointed at the sparking robot. "**_Oh violent torrent... _****Splash!"**

The water fell, soaking through the cracks their attacks had created in Kaiser Dist R's armor. The robot buzzed, then exploded, throwing those who were still standing backward. Almost everyone hit the deck or the rails, but Dist himself wasn't so lucky.

"I won't forget this!" he yelled as he and his chair went flying backwards and fell far out to sea.

Climbing to her feet, Anise looked over the rail. "I know he's a pain, but will he really be okay out there?"

Standing, Jade sighed and put his hands back in his pockets. "I wouldn't be too concerned. The man has the tenacity of a cockroach- it's one of his few redeeming features."

Tear turned around. "Fon Master, are you all alright?"

Shaken from his thoughts, Luke looked up from his hands. "Yeah, somehow..." Aeden elbowed him hard with the arm on her good side, the movement making new tears of pain spring to her eyes, and Luke looked back at her.

"Oh, Tear, could you please come over here? I think Aeden's broken something."

"You _think? _Ion says I did!" Aeden growled through gritted teeth, and Tear came over and knelt next to her.

Turning, Jade waved a hand. "I'm off to check the bridge. I want to make sure the crew's all right. It wouldn't do to have the ferry stolen from under us after all this."

"I'll come with you," Anise offered, but Jade shook his head.

"You should stay here with the Fon Master and Aeden, just in case of another attack."

"All right." Anise reluctantly nodded, realizing that he was right.

Guy glanced at Aeden, then over at Jade. "I'll come with you."

"Very well."

Anise grinned evilly. "You aren't _afraid_ of us, are you Guy?"

Guy twitched and backed up quickly. "N-no, of course not! I'm sure-"

Jade interrupted Guy. "I'm going."

Saved from his own awkwardness, Guy hurried to catch up to Jade, limping slightly as he walked.

...

Guy followed Jade up towards the bow, waiting until they were in a dark corridor and far from anyone who might overhear before he stopped walking.

Jade stopped as well, turning back to Guy. "Say what you want."

"What's going on?" Guy folded his arms. "What was really on that fon disk?"

"I don't know what you're talking about. I gave you a summary of what was on there. The rest would be much too technical for a layman to understand."

"But you did."

"I _am _thirty-five years old, you know. A bad back isn't the only thing that comes with age."

Guy shook his head. "Did you see what the Fon Master did while we were fighting?"

Jade put his fingers to the bridge of his nose, adjusting his glasses. "I assume you're talking about the fonic arte he used. Yes, I felt it. It was quite strong. What are you implying, that he's been pretending to be weaker than he is to manipulate us?"

_"No!"_ Jade looked at Guy calmly, and Guy sighed. "No, that's not what I was saying. I trust him. But he passed out after using a _much _weaker arte in the Cheagle Woods. What's different now? What did they do to him at Choral Castle?"

Jade sighed, folding his arms. "Without a proper examination by a _professional,_ I can't say for certain, but I would guess that they removed some sort of seal from his fon slots."

"A fon slot seal like the one Largo used on you?"

"Similar to that, yes. It would make even the simplest of artes exponentially more difficult and exhausting, especially if his body was weak to begin with."

"To think that someone would do that to the Fon Master, and no one noticed..." Guy frowned. "I find that hard to believe, but..."

"I can think of several reasons why it could have happened, but none are good." Jade turned away. "Now that you're done, let's keep going."

Guy opened his mouth to object- he _wasn't_ done- but something told him Jade had told him all he was going to. Guy sighed and continued following the Malkuth Colonel to the bridge.

...

When they reached Baticul port a few hours later, Tear had patched everyone up, including a few of the crew members that had been unlucky enough to also be attacked by the smaller robots.

Everyone, that was, except for Guy.

**SKIT: Friendly Fire**

**Guy: Owowow... H-hey! L-let go of me!**

**Tear: Please hold still. I can't heal you if you keep moving around like that.**

**Guy: R-r-really, it's fine! I'll be okay!**

**Anise: *comes up* Hey, we're almost there. ...Guy, what are you doing on top of that crate?**

**Jade: *joins her* What's all the noise over here? Oh, it's you.**

**Guy: *backs away* Y-you two stay away from me! You're the ****_reason_**** I'm injured!**

**Aeden: *looks between the two* What's he talking about?**

**Jade: *adjusts glasses* There may have been some... friendly fire issues during the battle.**

**Anise: *glomp* Well, the adorableness of Anise will make you feel all better!**

**Guy: U-uwah! **

**Jade: Or I could help... *reaches for first aid kit***

**Guy: N-no thanks! *limps away as fast as possible* I swear, it's like you're all ****_trying_**** to kill me! **

**Aeden: ...Is he really going to be okay? **

...

Aeden leapt down onto the dock. "Dry land, with no chance of getting attacked or getting wet or thrown overboard or-"

"Mistress Aeden?"

Aeden stopped mid-celebration, turning to see a large balding man with an impressive white mustache standing next to a white-blond woman. Both were in Kimlascan military uniform, and for some reason, the woman seemed strangely familiar to Aeden.

"Mistress Aeden," the man said again, bowing. "I am Goldberg, commander of the First Division of the Kimlasca-Lanvaldear Royal Forces. We received a carrier pigeon from Count Almandine to expect you. But you were supposed to arrive yesterday... And you brought visitors?"

Aeden blinked. Who had told Almandine that they were on their way back? She thought about it for a moment, then remembered what Master Van had said about having received no report from Kaitzur.

_Oh, Master Van or Guy must have told Almandine when he got the passports._

Luke and the others came up behind her. "Aeden, is something wrong?" He looked past her. "Oh, who are these people?"

"I am Goldberg of the Kimlasca Royal Forces, and this is General Cecille." He gestured to the blond woman next to him.

The woman nodded. "I am Brigadier General Cecille. We're here to escort Mistress Aeden safely back to the Fabre manor."

Aeden's eyes widened. _No! Not yet!_

Before she could say a thing, Luke smiled, holding out a friendly hand. "I guess Aeden hasn't told you yet, then, has she? I'm the Fon Master of the Order of Lorelei, here with a letter and a messenger from His Majesty Peony the Ninth. She offered to help us gain an audience with King Ingobert."

Goldberg turned to Aeden. "Is this true?"

"Yes," Aeden said, relieved that Luke had distracted Goldberg. "I promised to help them talk to my uncle, and I'll be taking them there."

"You really should have told us." Goldberg frowned. "But no matter. I will have General Cecille escort you rest of the way. May I ask who else is in your party?

Tear stepped forward. "I am Tear Grants, of the Order of Lorelei Oracle Knights, Fon Master Guardian Corps."

Anise nudged Tear aside. "And I'm Anise Tatlin, also of the Fon Master Guardian Corps."

"Colonel Jade Curtiss, of the Third Division Malkuth Imperial Forces. I am here with the Fon Master as an emissary of peace, representing His Imperial Majesty."

Goldberg, who had been nodding politely during the introductions, suddenly blinked in surprise. "Colonel Curtiss! Malkuth must be serious to send the emperor's favorite confidant on this mission."

Jade's face darkened. "I'm afraid tensions at the border are worse then they were at the start of the Hod War. We have no choice but to be serious."

Goldberg nodded. "I see." He turned to Guy. "And who are you?"

General Cecille also looked at Guy, who had been trying to fade into the background with little success.

Guy smiled. "Oh, I'm Guy. A manservant at the Fabre household."

Cecille snapped a salute to Goldberg. "If that is all, I will escort them to the castle, and make a report to His Grace."

Goldberg nodded, then nodded to Aeden. "Congratulations on your safe return."

"Um, yeah, thanks..."

Goldberg headed off and General Cecille gestured for them to follow her.

"Please come with me."

...

They took an air car from the port up to the main plaza, where Aeden found Luke (who had somehow ended up next to her during the air car trip) staring at her.

"What are you looking at me for?"

Luke blinked. "Aren't you going to give us a tour?"

Aeden folded her arms. "I would, except this is my first time seeing the city too. Stuck in the manor, remember?"

"Oh, sorry."

Aeden sighed. "Look, it's fine. If you really want to know about the city, I'd ask Guy."

"Hm?" Guy came up behind them. "Aeden, what's with that face?"

Luke turned to him. "Aeden was just saying to ask you about Baticul, since she doesn't remember it."

"About the city, huh..." Guy rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Well, when Baticul was first built, it was built in a crater that was made when a fonstone fell from the sky."

"To be more defensible, correct?" Tear asked, joining the conversation.

Guy looked at her, backing up a half-step so they wouldn't accidentally come into contact. "Yeah. The sides of the crater made the first walls of the city, and they built up from there, layer by layer. We're on the first level, but most people live on the levels above. The residents get wealthier and more powerful the higher you go, and at the very top is the castle where King Ingobert and Princess Natalia live, as well as the Fabre manor and whatnot."

Aeden tilted her head back, getting a real look at her home for the first time. As Guy had said, the buildings went straight up, each level connected to each other by lifts and sweeping sets of wide stairs. The Kimlasca-Lanvaldear crest was everywhere, from banners on the buildings to a giant version of the winged sword laid into the cobbles in the center of the plaza, and everything seemed colored in earth tones, from the orange banners to the dark brown support struts to the green air cars to the soft tan cobbles and plaster.

"Excuse me," General Cecille politely interrupted. "May we keep moving? I'm not sure how well the general populace will react to seeing a Malkuth army uniform in the middle of the city..."

Jade nodded. "Of course."

...

As they made their way up, Aeden began to notice some little things that unsettled her, such as the guards in Kimlasca military uniform that stood at each elevator and wandered among the people. What was most disturbing, however, was the sight of the fonic cannons mounted on the different levels, each with their own set of soldiers- presumably for defense of the city.

_I can't believe I never noticed how much of a presence the military has. But then again, I've never really seen the city. Has it always been this way?_

She was relieved when she stepped off the final elevator into the quiet square before the castle and nobles' manors. Even the sight of the White Knight bowing to her as they stopped by the Fabre manor gate was comforting in its familiarity.

General Cecille bowed. "I'm afraid this is where I'll leave you. I would escort you to the castle myself, but I have to report to His Grace, Duke Fabre."

"Of course." Jade bowed in response. "Thank you for escorting us here."

Tear nudged Luke, and he started. "Oh, yes, thank you."

General Cecille smiled, her stance relaxing for a moment. "It was my pleasure. I pray your audience goes well. I don't wish to end up against you again, Colonel."

Jade nodded. "That's right," he said, as if remembering. "You beat my troops quite soundly during that battle in north Chesedonia."

General Cecille shook her head. "You must be joking. I was the one who lost almost all her men. You are truly a force to be reckoned with, Colonel Curtiss."

She bowed again to them, then headed into the manor.

"Are you sure you don't want to visit home?" Guy asked Aeden, but Aeden shook her head.

"No, let's go see my uncle first."

...

Luke was amazed by the castle entry hall. "Wow... It's almost as big as the main hall of the cathedral in Daath! This is really cool, Aeden. Look at all those stars on the floor..."

The hall was clearly meant to inspire awe in any visitors to the castle, with its high vaulted ceiling and massive set of stairs leading up to the entrance to the audience hall.

"Yeah, well, it's not like _I _live here or anything," Aeden muttered and Luke could tell she was also curious about the castle, but she kept walking up the stairs to confront the two guards in front of the door.

"Halt!" one of the guards challenged them. "The King is currently in an audience. You can't go in."

Aeden folded her arms and glared at the guard, her whole stance reminding Guy of a certain other female noble. "Hey, do you know who I am? I'm Aeden fon Fabre, here with the Malkuth emissaries. Goldberg or someone should have told you that they're here to see my uncle."

"B-but, Mistress," the unfortunate guard stuttered. "He's in an audience with Grand Maestro Mohs! You can't just-"

"Mohs is the one trying to start a war, right?"

Luke nodded to Aeden's question. "Well, we think- Hey, hold up, Aeden, are you really sure-"

Question answered, Aeden ignored Luke and pushed open the door, stepping into the audience hall.

Under the watchful gaze of a massive pair of robed statues, each with a sword held point down in their hands, King Ingobert VI, an older man with greying hair and mustache, sat on his throne. He was listening closely to a rather unimpressive man in an impressive hat and robe, both of which were clearly marked with Order colors and symbol.

"Malkuth is strengthening their forces in both Engave and their capital, Grand Chokmah," Grand Maestro Mohs was saying. "St Binah has been completely mil-"

"Whatever he's been telling you, it's not true!" Aeden called out, startling Mohs into silence.

Ingobert looked at the intruders with surprise. "What are you doing here?"

One of the king's advisors, also an older man, looked at the king. "Your Majesty, who are-"

"I'm telling you, I might not have been to the capital, but I've been to Engave and St Binah! They're completely peaceful there, Uncle!" Aeden stepped forward, shooting a nasty glare at Mohs as she did so, and the stout man shrunk back.

Ingobert stood, stepping to the edge of the dais. "Aeden, Suzanne's daughter? Is that you? By the Score... you look just like her when she was younger."

Aeden grimaced, but for the sake of time, ignored the comparison to her mother. "Uncle, I'm here with an emissary from Malkuth. General Goldberg should have sent a message to you about them."

King Ingobert shook his head. "No, I don't recall getting any message... But I have been in audience with the Grand Maestro."

"He's been- hey!" Aeden was forced to take a step back as Tear pulled on her arm and Jade stepped forward, taking over the conversation.

"I am Colonel Jade Curtiss," Jade said, bowing deeply. "I bear a message of peace from His Imperial Majesty, Peony IX." He gestured, and Luke looked at Anise and Ion for a moment, trying to remember which of them had the letter, then Anise stepped forward and gave it to Alpine, the man who had objected previously.

Alpine bowed, and Ingobert nodded. "Thank you."

"You're going to read it, right?" Aeden asked urgently. "They're really serious-"

"Aeden." Ingobert shook his head. "The letter has been received, and we will _carefully_ consider its contents. That is all I can promise."

He took another step down, this time addressing Aeden much more personally and quietly. "I would recommend you return directly home after this."

Aeden tilted her head. "Why is that?"

Ingobert sighed. "Suzanne... well, she never really recovered from your brother's death, and when her only surviving child also disappeared..."

"What? What are you saying?" Aeden suddenly felt a wave of inexplicable panic rise up in her. "What about- Mother?"

"She's ill, Aeden. _Very _ill. Natalia is there now in my stead, but you should go as well."

Aeden bit her lip, drawing back into the party, and Mohs, who had not been long in regaining his confidence, caught sight of Luke within the group. His eyes widened. "Fon Master! W-we've been looking everywhere for you!"

Luke waved his hand. "Hey, I have some things I need to discuss with you. Later."

Mohs looked shocked, but nodded. "Of... course, Fon Master. I am at your disposal."

King Ingobert turned to Luke, surprise in his faded green eyes. "You are our new Fon Master?"

Luke stared for a moment, trying to remember if he should bow or something, but in the end decided to simply nod politely. "Yes, Your Majesty. I don't believe we've ever met."

"No... I was sorry to hear of your predecessor's passing. Such a young life cut short by such tragedy."

_Tragedy? _Luke made a mental note to ask about the circumstances of Fon Master Ion's death. He had never heard the actual story, he realized.

"Ah- yes, it was very sad."

Ingobert turned to Aeden. "Well, Aeden, you should return home."

Luke smiled at Aeden as well. "I'd like to see your home as well."

"That is all well and good, but I'm afraid that I need Sergeant Grants's report," Mohs interrupted.

"I'd like to go with them," Tear said. "I can give you your report when I return."

Mohs looked slightly annoyed, but nodded.

The king stared at them for another second, then nodded. "Perhaps it will do Suzanne some good to see new faces."

"Quarters will be prepared for the emissaries," Alpine informed them. "Please return when you are ready to rest."

"Thank you," Jade said politely, before either Luke or Aeden could say anything.

...

Aeden's hurried steps slowed as she stepped outside into the bright sunlight.

_I don't understand... Why does my chest feel so tight? It's not like she ever was a mother to me. But... _An image of Suzanne during one of her lucid moments, smiling as she teased the tangles and leaves out of Aeden's hair, her gentle fingers braiding it into a thick braid, surfaced in Aeden's mind. Then another, more recent memory: Suzanne's face falling at Aeden's harsh words.

"_No! I don't want to wear a dress to see Father! Leave me be!"_

_"But, dear... You look so lovely in that dress."_

And the argument just before she had been whisked away...

"Aeden, are you all right?"

Aeden started at Tear's touch. Aeden swiped at her face, before she turned to face Tear.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?"

Tear touched the brown part of Aeden's sleeves, where water spots darkened the fabric. "You looked upset when you ran out of the audience hall. I'm sorry, I feel somehow responsible. If anything happens to Lady Fabre..."

Aeden took a deep breath. "Don't be. Mother's never been... well. If anything, I might be the cause more than you. I said some things... I wish..."

She shook her head. "Never mind. Well, you wanted to see my home. Let's go."

Jade raised a hand. "Won't it be too much for all of us to come in at once?"

"Oh, yeah... I guess we are kinda a large group..." Aeden looked at the party.

"How about Guy show Anise and I around the city?" Jade suggested. "Surely he knows it well."

Guy rubbed the back of his head. "I've lived here awhile, sure, but..."

Anise tilted her head. "I don't know how I feel about leaving Luke alone here with _those_ two..."

"Then it's settled," Jade decided. "Let's go." He grabbed both of them and dragged them off by their collars.

"Do you get the feeling he's done this before?" Luke wondered, and Aeden shrugged.

Remembering something, Luke looked down at Ion. "Go on. Go with them and have some fun."

"But, Fon Master-" Ion began, but Luke waved a hand.

"I know it's not easy being stuck in Daath. Go with them and eat some new food, buy some souvenirs. Here look, I'll even give you some Gald." He dug in his pockets for a moment, then turned to Aeden. "You have the Gald pouch, right?"

"Uh, yeah, I think so. Hold on a second..." Aeden rummaged in _her_ pockets, then pulled out the now infamous pouch.

Luke handed it to Ion. "Fine, if you don't want to have fun or eat anything, then just look at it this way: I'm giving you this and I need you to run after the others. They didn't take any Gald with them when they left."

Ion nodded and ran after Jade and the others, just in time to join them on the lift down.

...

Aeden stared at the Fabre manor walls, then sighed and pushed open the door.

"I'm home..."

"Welcome back, Aeden," Duke Fabre said. "I'm glad to see you're well. ...and I see you've brought visitors." He looked down at Cecille, who was standing next to him. "General Cecille, you didn't inform me of this."

"I was not aware of it myself, Your Grace."

Duke Fabre nodded to Luke and Tear, looking them at them with an inscrutable gaze. "And who might your guests be, Aeden?"

"Duke Fabre. I'm the Fon Master of the Order of Lorelei." Luke stepped forward. "I came from Daath with the Malkuth peace emissary. Your daughter was extremely kind to help us."

"Was she now? Well, I am glad to hear that she was able to assist you all." Duke Fabre laced his fingers together. "May I ask... have we met before?"

Luke shook his head. "No, I don't think so."

"Ah... Does hair like that run in your family, then?"

Luke fingered the gold tips of his unruly crimson hair, as if considering it for the first time. "I'm afraid I don't know. I was found on the cathedral steps seven years ago with no memories except my name. A family in the Order adopted me."

Duke Fabre nodded, looking appropriately solemn. "I see. Well, I'm sorry to ask the Fon Master such personal questions. It's just that you look very... Kimlascan. But enough of that." He turned his stare on Tear. "I assume then, you are his Guardian?"

Tear nodded. "Yes sir. Fon Master Guardian Tear Grants. I'm here to apologize to you and the Lady for my irresponsible actions."

"So you are the one responsible for the disappearance of my daughter." Duke Fabre folded his arms, his voice becoming quiet and turning vaguely threatening. "Are you not Commandant Grants's sister? Perhaps you were both working together to kidnap her."

Tear lowered her head. "I am truly sorry for involving her, but I assure it, it was completely an accident. I would never have kidnapped her."

Aeden looked back and forth between the two, then she paused. "Speaking of, where _is_ Master Van?"

Duke Fabre looked at her. "Is he not with you?"

"No, he said he was going ahead... Shouldn't he be here by now?"

"Perhaps he was somehow delayed," Cecille interrupted, relieved to find a way out of an awkward situation. "I'll head down to the Port and see if he's arrived."

"And I will head to the castle," Duke Fabre said, eliciting a confused stare from Aeden.

"Why-"

Duke Fabre raised a hand. "You should go see your mother. I believe your cousin is here as well."

Aeden's eyes widened, but before she could say anything, both her father and General Cecille had already headed out.

"Where's your Mother's room?" Luke asked, and Aeden sighed.

"Follow me."

...

Suzanne was sleeping when Aeden pushed open the door softly. A young woman in blue with short, slightly curly blond hair sat on the edge of the bed, humming softly as she stroked Suzanne's hand.

The young woman turned at the sound, and her lime-green eyes widened at the sight of the trio in the doorway. She stood quickly, closing the door behind her before turning to them and gesturing for them to follow her outside.

Once outside, she turned to Aeden, taking the other girl by the shoulders. "Aeden!" she cried, hugging her, "I was so worried about you when you went missing! Don't you ever do that again!"

"Natalia, you're squeezing me too hard!" Aeden managed, and Natalia let go of her hurriedly.

"Sorry, Aeden."

"Is this your cousin?" Tear asked, and Aeden nodded.

"Yeah. Meet my cousin, Princess Natalia Luzu Kimlasca-Landvaldear. Natalia, this is Tear and..."

"It's an honor, your highness." Tear bowed.

Aeden looked over her shoulder curiously. "Where'd Luke go?"

All of them looked around hurriedly. With his hair and robe's color, he wasn't difficult to spot. The red headed Fon Master was talking animatedly to a balding gardener on the other side of the central courtyard.

"There he is," Tear said in relief, and Aeden shook her head, folding her arms.

"Why's he talking to the gardener? Pere's all dirty and stuff."

Tear sighed. "It's hard to know what'll catch his interest."

"Wow, those are really nice," Luke was saying to a very perplexed Pere as the others came over.

"Fon Master, please don't wander off like that. It's dangerous for you to be alone."

Luke looked up at her. "Oh, Tear!" He straightened, wiping the dirt from his palms on his robe's hem. "How could it be dangerous? There's guards everywhere."

"It's probably the safest place in all of Baticul," Aeden agreed. "And it's not like he's going to be kidnapped right in the center of the city."

Tear sighed. "But still..."

A footstep sounded on the stone. "Luke... Is that you?"

The four turned to see a slight woman with burgundy hair in the door.

"Mother!" "Aunt Suzanne!" Aeden and Natalia said at the same time. Pere, who had been forgotten, quietly gathered up his tools and left.

Natalia rushed to Suzanne's side. "Aunt, you should be in your room, resting."

"I know, but I heard voices in the courtyard." Suzanne shook her head fretfully. "Besides, I can't stand to stay another moment inside."

Suzanne looked past Aeden to Luke, who was hanging back with Tear. "Luke, it is you! Oh, I'm so glad Jozette found you!" She ran forward and wrapped her arms around him, making Luke stiffen, unsure what to do.

"Mother..." Aeden clenched her hand, looking at the ground.

Natalia tried to gently remove Suzanne from Luke. "No, Aunt. He isn't your son. This is the Fon Master, from Daath."

Suzanne blinked. "But-" She let go and briskly brushed him off. "I'm sorry." She turned again. "But Aeden is here, isn't she? My little girl is safe?"

"Yes, Mother," Aeden whispered, her voice choked. "I'm here."

As Suzanne embraced Aeden, Aeden remained stiff for a moment, then awkwardly hugged her mother back.

"I was so worried... I'm so sorry dear," Suzanne said quietly. "I thought you'd been kidnapped again."

"Yeah... Me too," Aeden managed.

Suzanne, seeming more lucid by the moment, turned to Natalia and Tear. "I'm sorry," she said to them. "I'm afraid I haven't been well, or else I would have prepared something as a proper hostess. Would you mind telling me your name?"

Tear bowed. "That's alright, Lady Fabre. I'm afraid our visit here was a bit unannounced in any case. I am Tear Grants, Fon Master Guardian. It was my fault that your daughter disappeared, and for that I am truly, deeply, apologetic."

Suzanne looked thoughtful. "Tear Grants... That sounds familiar. Have we met before?"

"No. You're thinking of my brother, Commandant Van Grants."

"But you tried to kill him, didn't you?" Suzanne folded her arms inside her sleeves.

Tear bowed again. "Yes. I tried to strike him down with no regard to my surroundings and got your daughter involved in my own personal affairs. Again, I beg your forgiveness."

Suzanne shook her head. "Of course I forgive you, so long as I know it was truly an accident."

Tear lowered her head. "I swear, by Lorelei and Yulia, it was an accident."

Suzanne nodded. "Thank you. You've put a silly woman's mind at ease. But Tear...?"

"Yes, Lady Fabre?"

"Please, Tear, promise me you won't try to strike your brother down again. Brother against sister... It's so sad when kin fights kin."

Tear raised her head. "Thank you for those kind words."

"Aeden! Luke! Tear!"

Everyone turned to see Anise running towards them, panting hard.

"Anise! What's wrong?" Luke caught her as she stumbled forward into his arms.

"Th-the-the port- Commandant- danger!" she gasped between breaths.

Tear knelt next to her. "Slow down, Anise. Take a deep breath. We can't understand what you're trying to say."

Anise shook her head, and in the doorway, Jade, Ion, and Guy appeared. Guy and Ion were gasping almost as hard as Anise, but Jade barely appeared to be breathing heavy at all.

"Aeden," Guy gasped. "They arrested him. At the port."

"_Who _have they arrested?" Aeden demanded.

"Commandant Grants," Jade said grimly. "He was arrested for kidnapping you as soon as he arrived. He's in the castle dungeon now."

"_What?!" _Aeden couldn't believe her ears. "What are they going to do with him?"

"In the worse case, I'm afraid..." Jade folded his arms, "he'll be executed."

Aeden turned to Natalia. "Natalia, you have to talk to Uncle for me! Tell him Master Van had nothing to do with my disappearance!"

Natalia looked worried. "Aeden, I can try, but..."

_"Please,"_ Aeden begged, and Natalia sighed.

"For my little cousin, I'll do it."


End file.
